The Charon Brotherhood
by Zoram Selrof
Summary: Sequel to The Golden Star Enigma. Half a year after the adventures involving the organization Golden Star, the Net Police's Cyber CID feel relaxed but, suddenly, a race to unveil a large, mysterious and deadly group, the Seraphs, begins. Both Golden Star and the Net Police will have to face a wave of new-gen enemies which even Enzan will find hard to beat. Rated M for lemon.
1. Chapter 1: Small affairs

**The Charon Brotherhood**

**By Zoram Selrof**

**Chapter 1: Small affairs**

10:04 AM (Japan Time), Saturday February the 1st, 2011…

"… By Merton! Uncle Merton's favorite nephew and the greatest rival ever to Uncle Moran's favorite nephew jumps into the stage to cheer the office up! Its name is… Sam-Merton-Who-Eats-Your-Dreams AKA Superintendent Oda of the Net Police's Cyber CID! Ta-dan!"

"PUAH!"

"Fuck."

"Run for your _cappuccinos_!"

"YIKES!"

"Enzan – sama: tactical withdrawal, sir?"

"Oh how lovely!"

Superintendent Oda of the Net Police's Cyber CID stepped into the work area to find Ijuuin Enzan coughing and pouring out his coffee: Punk EXE cursed aloud, Meijin let out a groan, Obihiro Shun looked terrified as he whipped around from the chair he'd been sitting at, Blues EXE began to suggest a escape and Hikari Yuuichirou looked up from some schematics while looking annoyed.

"So! Uncle Moran's favorite nephew sent you gentlemen a course-book on how to calculate TV signal loss in common antenna installation by taking into account the cable's own loss per meter, the distances between antenna and plugs plus the pass and derivation losses of the deviator machines?" He laughed.

"NO!" Everyone chorused as one.

"My, my. Then I'll ring him up. And let's hear to their MAGNIFICENT radio plays too by the way. Shall we?"

"NO!"

"My, my. Santa didn't drop by?"

"THAT'S NOT WHAT WE MEAN!"

"My, my. Do we need young Holmes to crack this enigma?"

"NO, SIR!"

"My, my. Maybe we should ring on VHS Man, Burn-Run Man and Needle-Them-All Man?"

"NO, SIR!"

"My, my. In times like these my Uncle Merton would rather…"

Everyone suddenly ran off the room leaving Oda along in the workspace: he blinked several times and formed a broad smile as he headed out and into another office: he turned on what seemed to be a PA system and cleared his throat.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Rejoice! Uncle Merton's favorite nephew has come to save the day! Who do we need to lock behind bars? The elusive mice which have been running loose ever since October, maybe? What do you think, my fellows?"

A chorus of groans, moans, curses, roars, shrieks, hisses and other undecipherable sounds rang out across the building but Oda didn't seem to be surprised at all: his grin grew larger, even.

"Thank you for your collective reply! I shall treat you to Uncle Moran's nephews' radio play soon enough."

Another chorus of sounds rang out as a response and these ones seemed to indicate despair and being fed up with the whole joke: Oda merely switched the microphone off.

"Well! I said we'd be back, by Merton. And we're going to catch these little mice, by Moran. Unless Uncle Moriarty gets in the way…"

He laughed aloud at his own joke…

10:45 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Hum, hum…"

"The _Halo_ tune, eh?"

"Of course. It's cool and catchy. Catch a catching catcher. Gotcha?"

"Heh! Not bad."

"Ah! There you are! Miquel! There's TALK pending! VERY IMPORTANT TALK!"

"Not again… What part of "clichés are silly" you don't get, Tokuzana Joanne – chan? Andy and Kage Miquel are innocent."

"I settle that myself!"

"Jeez."

"Oh come on. Joanne – san. We thought that…"

"…you'd earned the lesson ever since the summer…"

"I decide that!"

"Oh jeez."

A guy had come out of a room having an armored door and into a corridor of some kind of facility given the metallic compositions of its walls, floor and ceiling only to be confronted by a girl.

"Kage Miquel! Say "yeah" or "no" ALREADY! ANSWER ME OR CHA WILL REGRET IT!"

"Jeez."

"Come on…"

The guy named Kage Miquel appealed as being around a meter and sixty centimeters tall and had a good body frame.

He possessed neatly combed blond hair along with soft facial features: he had an annoyed look to his face by now.

He wore a brown overcoat, a pair of jeans and black knee-tall boots plus a black bandana with a five-pointed golden star set against a black background inside of a silver circle drawn on the center of it: he also had sunglasses on.

His Link PET was colored golden and silver together with the same drawing in the bandana set on it as emblem.

"Joanne – san! Please! This discussion is pointless!"

"I DECIDE THAT YOU WESKER WANNABE!"

"That's a first."

"Guess so, Andy!"

A Net Navi was standing to Kage Miquel's right and had a look of annoyance and frustration written across his face.

His eyes' irises were a mix of blood red and golden: some silver-colored hair could be seen emerging from beneath his helmet as well.

His whole body with the exception of his forearms and boots was painted in a bright silver color: the boots and forearms, however, had been tinted in a slightly rusted bronze color and a bronze-colored thin vertical stripe ran across his body from the neck to the end of the crotch crossing over his silver-edged chest emblem.

Overall he was about five centimeters taller than his Operator, his total height being around a meter and sixty-something.

"Cha two! Settle the chit-chat elsewhere! This Wesker wannabe is my prey and I'm gonna see to it that… that gal… doesn't beat me to it!"

Tozukana Joanne struck as being close to sixteen years old or maybe seventeen thus being older than Kage.

Her hair was tinted black even though some patches of brown hair could be seen beneath it and her eyes' irises were brown.

She seemed to be wearing a black leather one-piece suit which covered her body starting slightly beneath the shoulders.

She also had a pair of black knee-high plastic boots plus two attached ammunition round-holding compartments.

Her Link PET was colored purple and black and its symbol was the Alphabet "L" character surrounded by a golden edge.

She currently held a PSG-1 sniper rifle on her hands which she was aiming at the ground while confronting Kage: her face looked like she could make a tomato rot from a mere glare at it given her bad mood.

"What do we do, Lily - san? Call Ms. Secretary?"

"Good question, yeah…"

Her Navi, Lily, had a _Goth_ look to her given her use of heels, two metallic loose bracelets in her forearms and a collar with spikes protruding from it around her neck.

Her helmet's forehead had the word "Goth" engraved on it using scarlet red letters and her eyes' irises were also scarlet red: her expression denoted annoyance.

The bodysuit's predominant color was black with some patches of white scattered like stains there and there.

She now looked defeated and annoyed at her Operator's behavior and began to whisper along with Andy.

"Is that red-haired… gal… controlling you or WHAT?"

"Come on! Lily said it: _clichés_ are silly and so is paranoia! Do you want all of our hard work and all to collapse because you're paranoid and our enemies laugh at us saying we're a bunch of quarreling ducks?"

"Huh! That's…"

"How MANY times have we brought that up already?"

"About 845. Ever since August, 2009."

"H-how can cha keep such an exact count?"

"I store them in the "bad public image" tag."

"Yeah. I do that too. It's better to store info by tags so that you can quickly get to what you're looking for." Andy confirmed.

"_Que se passe-t-il, là haut_?" A voice rang out.

"YIKES! B-Boss!"

"Boss! See! Joanne – san is back at it."

"Chut!"

"I don't hide secrets."

"Oh please. Joanne – san. I thought your honorable aunt… No offense intended… Had discussed this with you during the Christmas vacation and that you'd settled the matter."

"I am afraid they don't see to learn the lesson, sir."

"It's obvious, Legato."

"B-but, VP _Noir_ this guy is…!"

"And what if? Is that a crime?"

"Well…"

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT? BEFORE BLURTING OUT ANYTHING DO SOME BACKGROUND RESEARCH! YOU GET ALL OF YOUR RANDOM ACCUSATIONS SHOT BACK BECAUSE THEY'RE RANDOM AND YOU BRING THEM UP WHENEVER YOU FEEL LIKE IT WITHOUT REALIZING THEY'LL BE SHOT DOWN!" Lily seemingly exploded.

"Alright, alright! I'm not deaf!"

"JEEZ!" She fumed.

"Now, now, _madames et monsieurs_… Let us calm down and talk this like civilized people, shall we?"

"But I insist that…!"

"And where's the proof? The actual, solid and irrefutable evidence? Do you have it? No one will believe you without it."

"B-but, VP _Noir_…"

"No buts."

The new character named "VP _Noir_" was a fellow whose height was around the same as Andy's yet there was something peculiar about his persona which stood out.

That "something" happened to be the fact that he was clad in a black European monk's robe with a heavy hood which hid his face: his hands were inside of the long and wide sleeves and the tunic hid his feet as well so only the voice told that he was a male: it was soft.

"Like _Noir_ – sama says…"

"Che! Legato…!"

"Got a problem with me?"

Legato was a third Net Navi present in the scene.

His helmet's main color was blood red as well, yet the inner edges surrounding his thick red shades had a tint of purple to them: a purple band formed on the forehead and circled the whole diameter of it.

Two valley-shaped cavities had been inserted into the sides of it and they ended in golden circles: a "fin" sprouted from the top of the helmet thus giving it a menacing-like look.

Lastly, a wild flock of silver hair came out from behind the helmet and covered all of his body's back.

His main "skin" color was black, yet his upper torso had red blood armor built over it: there were two black shapes drawn over the shoulders having a golden rim and a thin black line spread from the base of the neck to the lower edge of the armor.

An emblem with a black edge was set on the chest: it consisted of white and black halves split by a thunderbolt-shaped line: white was golden and silver was right.

The forearms were colored blood red.

They had two purple-colored parallel formations which originated at the sides of the emblem atop each hand's palm: they spread over the edge of the forearm while forming a pyramid-like shape.

His right forearm currently held a purple-colored Long Sword with a customized hilt.

The central body of the forearm was now colored metallic gray and had two purple circles colored yellow inside: a purplish-colored blade emerged around a cone-shaped purple-colored formation: the blade looked sharp and menacing for some reason or another.

His boots began slightly below the knee and had purple-colored diamond-like shapes which extended as high as the knee: they were colored blood red as well: the soils were colored purple, too.

Overall, he looked like a revamped Blues including his dry face which he put on when nothing impressed him.

"Che! Nope! That guy's smug smile tells it all!" She signaled Kage with her right hand's index finger.

"Excuse me? Smug smile? I don't feel like laughing at this. The situation is pretty serious by now." Kage argued back.

"And I'm sure that the red-haired gal…"

"…is unrelated! Why do you need to see conspiracies everywhere? I have enough with continuing my studies with a cyber tutor and deserving my grades on the exams. 3rd year in middle school isn't easy. At least by now I've got safe communications channels with my former classmates and my life isn't so lonely anymore. And in weekends in come here, to _Purgatory_, and I can get up-to-date on what's happened along the week. Haven't you been chasing some of those petty mice which have been involved in the serial nation-wide robbery cases?" Kage cut her.

"He's right. Please, Joanne – san. We don't want to make your honorable aunt get annoyed in purpose, do we?" _Noir_ sighed.

"I won't give up until he confesses!"

"And what would happen if he did?"

"I'd… eh… well…" She trailed off.

"Last time you said you'd inflict physical harm." Lily brought up.

"Define "last time", cha!"

"27 hours 36 minutes 18 seconds ago."

"Yikes!" She was obviously taken aback by the degree of precision.

"Aha-hah!" _Noir_ sounded like he'd seen it coming.

"And I was softening the words, by the way. You can guess what she really said with just using a bit of your imagination." She added.

"Undoubtedly." Andy merely lifted his eyebrows.

"Sure thing." Legato confirmed.

"See? You've become more predictable than the weather." Lily sarcastically told her.

"T-these MEN!" She cursed aloud.

"Do you want us to fetch Ms. Secretary then?"

"Fuck no! Not that cold-blooded… gal… again!" She cursed.

"Then maybe some fresh air up in the deck will help?" _Noir_ lowered his voice and it carried a hint of anger with it plus a double meaning which was pretty obvious.

"…Y-yeah, guess so… Guess… The guy's a single, yeah… And… Well… Yeah, sure… That's… hum… The deck, the deck, yeah…" She gulped and looked nervous.

She strolled past them in a rush without looking back but one could've caught a glimpse of her nervous face: Lily shrugged her shoulders and quickly caught up by her while making long strides.

"Jeez. I haven't even had breakfast yet. I stayed too late yesterday in my co-op _Halo: Reach_ game." Kage grumbled.

"Pretty intense too." Andy admitted.

"Glad to see you can shake off the week's stress…"

"Should we go to the cafeteria?" Legato suggested.

"Sure. Ever since you developed this system for us Net Navis to eat and drink and turn them into energy I can't have enough. And Dark Man is an excellent cook too." Andy grinned.

The four guys headed down the corridor and entered into a square-shaped cafeteria space with about six round tables each having six chairs set around them: there was a counter and the entrance to a kitchen built in the eastern side of the wide room: a row of three portholes in the western wall provided natural illumination plus that of the fluorescent light tubes in the ceiling.

There was one Navi behind the counter apparently busy wiping dishes and glasses with a cloth: Dark Man, former member of the "Dark Four Heavenly Kings": he was humming a tune but stopped when he noticed the four guys.

"VP _Noir_ – dono, Legato – dono, Kage – dono and Andy – dono… Good morning, everyone."

"Morning." They all replied.

"Hi. Guess I'm not the only one who overslept today too."

"Are we missing some conclave?"

"Ah. Suzuki – dono and Akemi – dono too… Welcome."

"The air smells nice. You've prepared some _delicatessen_ today, Mr. Dark Man?"

"It could be named as such."

"Tee, heh, heh. Intriguing, Martha - chan."

"Ain't it, Akemi? By the way… That figure in the kitchen… Is that one of our three "play" fellows, Mr. Burner Man?"

A girl and her Navi had joined the group of four into stepping inside of the cafeteria.

The girl, Suzuki Martha, appealed to be in her late teens and had long brown hair reaching past her shoulders and up until the waist: her eyes' irises were brown too and she had a good profile.

She wore a simple green wool jumper, jeans and white socks plus a pair of teal sneakers.

She also sported the arm-strap for a Link PET colored teal brown and yellow and having the Alphabet "A" character colored golden and set inside of a brownish-edged circle as emblem.

"Yo! Burner Man. Preparing your next "play"?"

"But of course, Miss Akemi."

Akemi, Suzuki's companion Net Navi, on the other hand, appealed to be around a meter and seventy tall whose main body color was teal brown accompanied by greenish irregular stains across her bodysuit.

Her helmet had the drawing of a flower on the forehead and her eyes' irises were green emerald: her face was smooth and slightly attractive when seen from a profile.

Her forearms and boots had three consecutive greenish rings drawn across them: each ring had some small yellowish stains scattered inside of them at random.

Some greenish hair flowed out from behind her helmet and reached until the shoulders.

Overall she looked friendly and like she was a naturalist.

"Ahem, ahem! Ladies and gentlemen! Today's menu: potato _tortilla_ with white beans!" Dark Man proudly announced.

"Six of 'em?" The guy named Burner Man called out with a hint of amusement to his voice.

"Indeed!" Everyone confirmed.

"Sure, Guv'nor!"

Burner Man came out of the kitchen as if to have a look around while having a broad grin on his face.

He struck as being around a meter and sixty tall or above.

His eyes didn't have irises on them and were colored blue.

His head was surrounded by a blood red metallic helmet which had two of those fang-like objects set on both sides of it: his emblem was set on the forehead and its drawing was a simplistic oval-shaped flame colored sky blue.

Red metallic armor was built over his upper body and it had four metallic objects shaped like fangs set over the shoulders: each one had a yellow stripe close to the backwards edge which had a small blackish metallic cover on it.

His shoulders were oddly placed lower than they should be at, half-way down the upper body: two short black arms without elbows emerged from them and ended in long cylinders colored red with a yellow stripe and having black hands at their end: the emblem was repeated there.

The body below the armor had armor with some vertical stripes set on them: his legs were free of armor until just past the knee: two cylinders with the same coloring pattern as the ones in the arms were set there and two armored feet with black soils emerged from below them.

"Alright! If you hear some noise that's my strong right arm beating those eggs! Do you want it _bad mood_ style?"

"You mean boiling hot? Sure!" Kage grinned.

"Will you please order your drinks?" Dark Man requested as he drew a pad to write them down.

"Water. What 'bout ya, Andy?"

"Water too."

"Apple juice if I may." _Noir_ requested.

"I'll have pineapple juice."

"I'd like an express coffee with hot milk." Suzuki requested.

"I'll have a _cappuccino_."

"_Presto_!"

Dark Man quickly got to work while the others picked plastic trays like those in self-service restaurants and placed a piece of baked bead atop it to then bring it to the table around which they sat: Dark Man soon brought the drinks and returned to his post while Burner Man was singing a tune from the kitchen.

"_Imagine~_! _A burning fella_~!" He sang.

"A burning fella… Intriguing." Legato grinned.

"Burning in the sense of guilty?" Akemi guessed.

"Guess he wants to get his hands on one of those petty thieves while they're on the middle of it and see their faces." _Noir_ sounded amused and let out a giggle like sound.

"Speaking of those… What have they robbed now?" Kage asked.

"Three days ago, on the evening of Wednesday January the 29th… The place is Hokkaido's Sapporo City… The vault of the NTN Bank." Legato announced with a sigh.

"Whoa. The NTN Bank's vault in Sapporo City…! I had a vague recollection that the thing began in late September with small things like pick-pocketing and forgeries' selling which got a sudden rise… Then in November the thing rose in scale: now cars and bikes were being stolen too and smuggled to Choina… And ever since two weeks ago more or less the pattern has switched to bank vaults and money scams… It's been growing in scale but I didn't think they'd dare to come so far… These guys gotta have a lot of cold blood. I guess." Kage whistled in surprise.

"Sorry to interrupt, fellows. The _tortilla_." He proudly announced as he placed it on the center of the table and having split it into six portions.

"Ah! Excellent. _Itadakimasu_~!"

"_Bon profit._" Dark Man made a little bow.

Everyone picked a slice of the _tortilla_ and ate in silence accompanied by Burner Man's cherry singing.

"_Imagine~_! _A jumping fella on fire~_!"

"Oho. Terrific." Legato grinned.

"So! Do we have any idea who is stirring these guys up and making them behave like this? I'm surprised Zero hasn't found anything either considering the scope of our super-computer." Kage asked.

"Well… See: they don't rely in the Cyber World. They've gone back to the old proxies and short phone calls to avoid a complete tracing. They may say "silver glowing" and then they hang up. Total speaking time: 34 seconds!" _Noir_ sounded rather tired by the whole ordeal.

"The police are having trouble with them… Once they catch them it turns out that most of them are grunts obeying some higher ruffian and that higher ruffian ends up showing up as a corpse. The most chilling aspect of that is that their corpses are actually deformed and their skeletons practically crushed… That wasn't a normal human's handiwork: something huge and very strong…" _Noir_ sounded afraid by now.

"Ugh. I guess they censored that."

"Of course! We don't want people to start throwing stones at us saying our Navis did it. Which they couldn't: none of them have enough strength to do that. No… That was like a giant in a fantasy tale…"

"How grim, really. If only we could catch one of them before they're silenced…"

"I'd love to." Legato sighed.

"Say… They always seem to act in a radius of about 30km from a said city or town, right?" Suzuki brought up.

"Yes, that is correct." _Noir_ politely confirmed.

"So maybe they'll pick a large bank's vault in that same radius while using Sapporo City as a starting point or… Say. Have those guys done, say, a car theft… Have they done that more than once in the origin point?" She seemed to be drawing up an idea.

"That is correct too… Oh! I see! So there's a chance that they might try Sapporo City again tonight!" _Noir_ realized.

"Good reasoning. It's at times like these that we miss Joel Agoras and Victor but their college studies absorb a lot of time." Legato sighed and looked slightly resigned.

"True. Well. The NTN bank was the number 1 there so maybe they'll go for the vault of the Nippon Bank next… And if the culprits are the same as in the other day then it's gotta be a pair of well-know vault-robbers the local police have been chasing for a while by now…" _Noir_ muttered as if reflecting aloud.

"Alright. So let's get there ahead of time using our "Dimensional Converter" devices, call the police to be ready to get in, and we go first to scout the terrain. No giant should be able to stand against two Net Navis anyway. And we've got our tranquilizer weapons too." Kage whispered.

"Don't get cocky." Andy warned.

"Don't worry, Mr. Anderson." He grinned at him.

"Good, good. Burner Man will come along as backup… And! By Uncle Moran! We'll unravel this grim affair. This must be brought to a halt already." _Noir_ decided.

"They're about to know the cleverness of Uncle Moran's nephew." Akemi giggled.

"And Uncle Merton will challenge you to a wits battle."

"Over the phone, obviously enough."

"Elemental, my dear Watson." Andy joined the jokes.

"By Moran! They're in for a world of Trouble with capital T."

22:22 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Heh! This vault's no big deal taking into account our sponsor has sabotaged all security interfaces… Now I only gotta pick it and get the gold, coins and notes inside."

A man hiding in the unlit basement of a bank and standing in front of a vault door while carrying a tool-box was muttering aloud while sounding cocky and very confident: he left the tool-box on the ground and began to use a portable flashlight to check on the door's locking mechanism: he opened the tool-box and picked some tools to begin working on it while chuckling under his breath.

"Uncle Moran says this: _Game Over_."

"Bill? I told ya to stay outside and watch out for the cops, man. Are you silly or what, man?"

"Sorry. But Uncle Moran put Bill to nap with his local anesthesia. In the back of the head."

"What the fuck?"

"Boo."

"YUWA~H! WHO THE HELL!"

"Uncle Moran's envoy… Burner Man!"

"What's with that disguise? You punk rent-a-cop!"

"Punk rent-a-cop? That's a first. And watch this. Strike Burner!"

"YIKES! NO WAY!"

"Yessir. I'm a real Net Navi and you live in the Edo Era."

Burner Man had suddenly shown up behind the man and he'd drawn a burner from which he produced bluish flames which claimed to be hotter than the Sun itself even: the man collapsed on the ground from the fright while Burner Man's grin grew.

"Yo! Kage. Gotcha the got-cha."

"Good rhyme, man. Patent it, man."

Kage stepped out of the unlit entrance while holding a customized Beretta M92F on his right hand: Andy was walking at his left and had drawn a buster-like weapon which he was aiming at the guy.

"Bill was such a poor watch, really. He was reading a porn magazine even and barely paying attention to anything. He didn't hear anything before my _judo_ attack knocked him out. Guess that's one the problems which comes with a feeling of all-powerful." He shrugged.

"W-w-w-w-ho the HELL?"

"Who the hell, ya ask, Will Roulos? Well! Guess ya live either on a cave or spend the whole day drunk. Golden Star."

"What?"

"Guess my deduction is correct. I'm sure most of Japan has heard about our exploits. If the police got more efficient it's thanks to us but I guess you're not catching anything… Oi, Kage. Can you smell the air and tell me if this guy is half-drunk or what?"

"Well, yeah. There's a horrible stench on the air and I guess it's some vile alcoholic drink. Beer, _sake_… I guess beer because it's a very strong stench and I don't believe _sake_ to be so stanching." He clogged his nose as if to show his disgust.

"Heh! No wonder. And he wanted to open a vault in such a condition too so he's gotta be in a rush or he's heard of the others."

"What others?" Roulos sounded like he wasn't paying attention.

"Sumoda."

"A~H! NO~! THE THING! THE THING! THE THING! IT'S GONNA KILL US, I KNOW IT! BUT IT WAS BETTER TO OBEY ON THE SPOT THAN BE CRUSHED BY THE THING!" He suddenly yelled while looking terrorized.

"A giant?" Kage interrogated.

"N-no… Worse! WORSE! WORSE~!"

"Oi! Calm down! We're here to save your life!" Andy told him.

"I'LL GO TO PRISON, I'LL RETURN THE MONEY! BUT I DON'T WANNA DIE~!" He cried.

"I said calm down!" Andy yelled.

"DON'T BELIEVE ME? LOOK IN MY PHOTO CAMERA: I RECORDED A VIDEO OF THE THING WHEN IT SUMMONED US TO THAT PLACE AND THEN DISAPPEARED AS IF BY MAGIC!" He yelled.

"Guess we should put him to sleep and remain here for the police to pick him up then… Maybe you should watch the entrance just in case this "thing" shows up and tries to get down here." Kage told Burner Man with a sigh.

"Yeah. Guess so." He turned serious.

"THE THING! THE THING! THE THING!"

"Oi! Be quiet!"

"THE THING! THE THING! THE THING! THE DU-SOMETHING MONSTER AND FREAK!"

"Du… What?" Andy frowned.

"THE MONSTER! THE FREAK! IT CAN'T BE REAL BUT THE THING SHOWED US HOW IT'D KILLED SUMODA~! IT'S REAL BUT IT CAN'T BE~! THAT FUCKING FREAK CAN'T BE REAL! NO! THEY'RE COMING! THE THING! THE THING!" He kept on yelling.

"Where's the camera?" Andy asked.

"Try the tool-box." Kage suggested.

Andy searched on it and picked it but frowned as he tried to turn it on: he sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Battery's discharged. And the PETs don't have Micro SD slit."

"Too bad. We'll have to let the police check them out. Oi, Burner Man! Is there anything weird up there?" Kage called out.

"The police cars… They'll be here in about 40 seconds!"

Sure enough, the sound of sirens began to grow louder and Roulos leapt to his feet to then rush past them and up the stairs: the other two followed him into the lobby of the bank just as the police cars parked in front of it and about twenty policemen came in: Roulos lifted his hands as if to prove he wasn't armed and two policemen seized him.

"Close me up! Close me up! Somewhere safe! Somewhere safe! Or the thing will kill me~!" He pleaded.

"Check his camera: it'd seem he's had the bright idea of recording the encounter with the "giant killer"…" Kage told them.

"What! Oh, finally!"

"The thing! The D-thing!" Roulos kept on shrieking.

"Calm down! We're gonna help you." One officer told him.

"THE… thing…"

He suddenly fainted from the stress and the officers had to lift him to place him on the rear seat of the patrol car along with the other man: the patrol car left while another officer picked the camera Andy handed over to him.

"Thanks for your help, as always."

"No, it's nothing. Please take all the credit. We could've missed the target too but luckily it'd seem there's some old-style detective logic left to the world." Kage made a weak chuckle.

"Alright. See you."

"Good. Burner Man! Let's go back to _Purgatory_."

"Yessir. I'm impatient to see what kind of "giant" we're facing."

"It must be terrific on sight if even a tough guy half-drunk got so hysterical about it…" Andy grimly muttered.

"Guess so!"

23:14 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Impossible."

"What's wrong, Boss?"

"I got the video of the camera sent to one of my gmail accounts and I've had a look at it but this is… Impossible. Really."

"Let's have a look too… Hell!"

"By all the…!"

"No wonder the fella was so hysterical!"

_Noir_, Legato, Kage, Andy and Burner Man gathered around a MacBook he was using while sitting in one of the closed down cafeteria's table: _Noir_ sounded like he couldn't believe it and when the others began to look they gasped in fear.

"And that thing's real…?" Andy nervously asked.

"Seems to…!"

"…My name is Dullahan. You will rob all of Sapporo City's bank vaults in order from the most important to the most unknown. Take all money: I'm not in need of that. And make sure to leave the doors open so that the police gets to know about this. Understood?"

"Y-yeah, _Danna_…!"

"W-we'll do it…!"

"Fine. You won't meet me again. Farewell!"

The video displayed something terrific: the speaker named "Dullahan" was about three meters tall and wore a metallic purple armor like the European medieval knights: a torn reddish cape hung from its shoulders as bonus: the armor had yellow and white markings to it yet the most disturbing part was that it was _headless_: there was a neck but no head and its voice boomed out of nowhere.

"WHAT in the WORLD is GOING ON?" They all gasped.


	2. Chapter 2: The Charon Brotherhood

**Chapter 2: The Charon Brotherhood**

08:08 AM (Japan Time), Sunday February the 2nd…

"… Hmmppff…! Huff, huff… Hmmpfff…! Huff, huff… I'm making progress, yeah… Good… I'll soon be ready for field action… All these months of training are gonna pay off… Oh yeah…"

Within a largely unlit dull concrete-built room somewhere a teen guy was working his body out by using weights as he laid face-up on a plastic bench: the whole room had sports equipment scattered around it and seemed to be a miniature gym.

The teen guy's height could be past the meter and sixty centimeters mark and judging from his face and body his age could be close to sixteen years old: his body was thin, athletic, and had good build to it which was proof of his apparently continuous exercises.

His jet black hair was a wild flock which knew no order or pattern and extended until the base of his neck: his eyes' irises, however, were crimson red in coloring while his face displayed concentration and reflected the effort being made.

He currently was shirtless but wore a pair of navy blue jeans tightened with a black leather belt: a pair of wool socks covered his feet and he used black sneakers for footing.

His hands were protected by fingerless gloves which apparently improved his grip on the weights.

He was currently filled with sweat and looked like he was doing an important effort to try to work it out.

"… Huff… No more… I'm blown out… 35 minutes of these has been more than enough… Heck! It's not even 8:15 AM and I woke up at 7:15 AM. I haven't had breakfast either… Guess I should head for the mess hall and ask of Baron – sama if any new orders for the week have come in: today's a Sunday after all…" He muttered.

He jumped to his feet and stretched.

"Let's wipe off this sweat and pick up the shirt."

He picked a towel resting in a nearby stool and began to wipe the sweat off his upper body and then his head: some heavy metallic footsteps accompanied by a mechanical humming and mosquito-like sound began to head on his direction: he looked up from the towel and his face displayed enmity for a brief fraction of time before he put on a poker face as if saying that nothing impressed him: the sounds came to a halt close by and were replaced by a permanent low-tuned whirring belonging to some kind of fan like in computers.

"Styx. Baron – sama summons you in his quarters."

"Alright, Dullahan…"

The teen named Styx tossed the towel and picked a black and purple-striped shirt which he put on as he calmly walked past the mole of the "headless knight Dullahan" which was standing near the two opened entrance doors: looking closely one could spot two small round objects set in the chest at around the two meter height: Styx directed a bored glare at them for a second and then walked out into a small corridor: he headed for a door right in front of him and knocked on it.

"Come in." A man's voice commanded.

Styx opened the door and entered a modestly-sized room which was a combination of office room and bedroom: a man was sitting on a chair giving him the back and working with a computer but he presently stopped and stood up to turn around.

"Baron – sama." Styx made a reverence.

The "Baron" was a tall man easily overcoming a hundred and ninety centimeters in height yet his age and such was hard to guess because he had a disguise on.

This disguise consisted on a blue cloak covering a black suit beneath it and giving him a European aristocrat look: the disguise was complemented with a white mask like those used in theaters which happened to have two curved sinister eyes and a creepy smile drawn across it.

He also had a top hat over his head as well too and sported while plastic gloves on his hands.

Overall he gave off a commanding and authoritarian feeling to anyone facing his presence.

"Styx. I got new orders from the top. Your turn to shine has finally come, it'd seem. Dullahan's been exposed this evening but it doesn't matter: the desired effect has been laid and society will have a hard time shaking off the trail of death left behind by him."

"I am honored, sir."

"Good. All these months of preparation of both body and mind have been worth it: you'll jump into action in less than 7 days from now once the final details are laid out by the very top. By the way! Has Dullahan tried to start another fight this week? I've been somewhat busy with other paperwork and I think I've been neglecting my vigilance. Ever since you became one of us you quickly upheld the command that no fighting over the past relations between you two should happen. But Dullahan gets picky from time to time. So?"

"No, sir. It'd seem Dullahan is slowly learning his place. Maybe now that he's not… eh… running the show… he'll realize he must behave because he won't have a good excuse at hand, sir." He ventured.

"Hum! Good argument, yes. Yet isn't it ironic?"

"Yes, sir. One would expect me to be the one to pick on fights and not Dullahan but it turned out to be the other way around, sir. Reality can be somewhat ironic, isn't that what you taught me, sir?"

"Correct. Well. Enough chatter. Have you had breakfast yet?"

"No, sir. I was working out on the gym.

"Why, on an empty stomach?"

"Eh… Well, sir… Since Holmes said it stimulated the brain…"

"The brain, yes… But doing exercise like that isn't a good idea."

"I apologize, then, sir… For abusing of my health."

"Well! No harm done, really. Go have some breakfast and then I've got a list of errands for you to run in the city. Don't forget your contacts and make sure to carry the documents."

"Roger, sir. With your leave, sir…"

"Go. Ah! Dullahan! I've been hearing you too close to this room and not in your room as of late. I'm on my late 40s but that doesn't mean I can't hear the hum of your armor! I hope you weren't eavesdropping!"

"No, Master, I was not." Dullahan's tall frame showed up on the doorway and made a saluting gesture which looked incomplete given how there was no head to begin with.

"Hum." "Baron" sounded suspicious.

"I shall return to my duties." He hurriedly announced.

He walked away at a slow pace and shut himself into a room while Styx headed down the corridor and took out a key from his jean's right pocket to unlock his small room: it had a bed, a desk with a Toshiba computer set atop it, one chair and a small bookcase with some books on it mostly about gymnastics and diets: Styx opened one of the desk's drawers and drew a wallet plus a small case for contacts which he left atop the desk before closing the drawer: he pocketed the wallet and exited his room by locking it once again.

"Well. Let's have something for breakfast, my fellow." He muttered to his own as he formed a cocky grin.

He entered a small dining room and headed for a coffee machine: he loaded it with coffee and then placed a cup before starting it up and apparently savoring the smell which came with it given the smile which was slowly drawn across his face.

"How was that motto again…? Oh yeah! Shake the shaking shaker of all shakers! Heh, heh, heh. Things are about to get _interesting_."

He chuckled aloud…

09:45 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Why, Raoul. Been a while."

"Yeah, Ijuuin… I'm troubled."

"That video, right?"

"Obviously…"

"What do you make of it, Thunder Man?"

"There's no doubt: that guy's the culprit. But it ain't a disguise and it ain't a Net Navi either."

"Heh! Aragoma Torakichi – sama 'ere will pulverize 'em and their off-season Halloween costumes! Right, King Man?"

"Victory will be seized in four moves!"

"Aragoma. I was wondering where you'd gone off to."

"To my uncle's, ya see! Been busy improving Net Chess and participating in tournaments… I missed all of those "Golden Star" dealings but since there barely was any battling then I'd gotten bored anyway."

"Hum. I was on my nation and I heard the tale from Barrel: I quickly realized this wasn't our stuff anymore."

"Yeah. I had to figure it out the hard way, sadly enough."

Enzan stepped into the hallway of the Net Police's Cyber CID HQ and found Ameroupe's Raoul there: he was leaning against a wall, crossing his arms and hanging his head down while closing his eyes: he apparently was meditating and Thunder Man EXE's hologram was projecting from his Link PET as well: Aragoma Torakichi and his Net Navi King Man EXE joined the conversation as he strolled in a cocky and over-confident manner: Enzan merely lifted his eyebrows.

"Yo~! Enzan. Been a while. What's up?" A cheery voice rang out from the entrance.

"Uncle Merton's puns are too much for you?" Another asked.

Enzan formed a smug smile and turned around to see Hikari Netto walking into the lobby while sporting a pair of jeans, a brown fur coat and his usual orange sneakers plus his bandana: he looked close to sixteen years old just as Enzan did and his height was well over the meter and sixty centimeters mark by now.

"Don't forget me! Hikari Saito joins the party!"

Hikari Saito could be one or two centimeters taller than Netto: his eyes' irises were green emerald and his brown hair was an antithesis to Netto's given how it was neatly combed to the millimeter: his face had a smoother look to it as well.

"Huh? Why. Hikari Netto… You had a brother and never introduced him to us?" Raoul opened his eyes and looked slightly surprised.

"Yeah. That ain't fair."

"Well! Saito – niisan has been ill for several years of a genetic heart disease and he had to stay home most of the time… He had to take on his studies and exams from there and go through about three surgeries before he was healed in the summer. I didn't bring him up because I didn't want him to get involved: it'd been bad for the heart." Netto defended with a slightly annoyed face.

"Like he says…" Saito shrugged.

"I can attest to that." Enzan told them.

"Ah. If you say so… No big deal. Anyway… I guess we're going to be summoned soon enough so maybe we should go up there to the meeting room to discuss the news." Raoul shook the topic off.

"Alright! Let's go." Saito grinned.

"Oi, Hikari! Wanna have a showdown?"

"Nope. I retired and I haven't picked up again. Try Enzan or Meijin – san instead." Netto replied.

"What? Retired? WHEN?"

"Jeez. Were you secluded in the mountains or WHAT? That was ever since summer of 2008! It's been over TWO YEARS by now and YOU HADN'T REALIZED IT?" Netto was annoyed by now.

"Yikes!"

"I agree with his point of view. One month or two can be excused but two years… You really haven't paid attention to anything going around here, really. I've known that for a long time." Raoul directed a bored glared at Torakichi.

"JEEZ! Now I'm to blame?" He moaned.

"Yes, you are."

"Che!"

The group headed for the hall's elevators and stepped into one: Enzan hit the 3rd floor button and the elevator climbed: Torakichi began to look at Saito's face and frowned.

"Say, ya… We hadn't met before?"

"No."

"I've got the feeling I've seen your face somewhere else." He muttered while sounding doubtful.

"Maybe you're mistaking the guy."

"Could be, yeah…" He shrugged.

PING!

"Here we are."

"Welcome! Sam Merton He Who Eats Your Dreams AKA Superintendent Oda says you're - HIRED!"

"Oh no."

"Catastrophe."

"Jeez. This is an ambush!"

"Heh, heh, heh!"

No sooner had the doors opened that Superintendent Oda greeted them with one of his own lame jokes: he started to laugh while the five of them grumbled and headed left and down the corridor to come into a meeting room having a round wooden table: Hikari Yuuichirou, Meijin and Obihiro were already sitting on their seats: the other six picked them too and Oda cleared his throat.

"Ahem, ahem. Well! Welcome to the meeting, fellow conspirers sponsored by Uncle Merton's favorite nephew."

"HUH?"

"Kidding, kidding."

"PLEASE BE SERIOUS, SIR!" They all snapped at him.

"Have a look at this fella and tell me what you think."

Oda drew a PET and turned on its holographic screen to display the video in which "Dullahan" had been giving orders to the safe-crackers: Raoul, Yuuichirou, Meijin, Obihiro and Enzan weren't surprised but Aragoma, Netto and Saito gasped and leant on forward.

"Dullahan. That this fella's name. Now, Meijin – chan over there had a theory on what is his trick street performer trick."

"Please…" Meijin groaned.

"Did ya say something, Mr. Anderson?"

"Ahem, ahem! My theory is this: Dullahan isn't a mere disguise because no disguised man could make that much force. And I don't think it to be a Net Navi either: Golden Star confirmed that all existing "Copy Roids" are accounted for and that there hadn't been any "Dimensional Areas" triggered by anyone else who wasn't them or the Science Labs. So I came up with an idea: it's a robot."

"A robot… I see." Enzan rubbed his chin.

"I'll also venture that I believe a Net Navi is controlling it."

"Why?" Netto asked.

"We've analyzed the voice harmonics. They match the frequency used by Net Navis when speaking through PET speakers although these speakers were 10 times more powerful. But the basic harmonics were unaltered to begin with and fall within the 300-3400 Hertz rang in which human voices fall into." Meijin exposed.

"Hum. So a Net Navi piloting a robot… Well. Net Navis sometimes pilot cars or other equipment so it isn't anything revolutionary. But I can see that a Net Navi would not mind piloting this robot: maybe they don't even know it's headless to begin with. That could explain why they wouldn't feel weird or odd to sound disembodied." Enzan ventured.

"That's a good idea too…" Yuuichirou admitted.

"Hum! We're all turning into Holmes disciples."

"WRONG, SIR!" They immediately snapped at him.

"Heh! The Synchro Octuplets!" Oda joked.

"WHA~T?" They all grumbled.

"All I have to do is to cast the net and then pull it to bring up the fish entangled within it: the shark and the silly bull-headed bludgeon. Heh, heh, heh!" Oda joked next.

A general round of grumbling rang out next.

"My. What mood. Should I tell you how I knew that culprit of hacking his way into our Cyber CID was hiding inside of the cleansing closet and tried to disguise as a member of the cleansing staff?"

"NO, SIR!"

"Or my adventures with Uncle Merton?"

"NO, SIR!"

"Or my adventures with Uncle Moriarty."

"NO, SIR!"

11:38 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Welcome, Joel Agoras and Victor. Been a while."

"Yes, Video Man, indeed."

"Needle Man's around?"

"Shah, shah, shah! Sure thing!"

A guy and his companion Navi were chatting with another two Net Navis while standing in a large ship-like deck filled with small buildings and structures: there were two gigantic retractable covers colored in a dull metallic green color suspended over the deck and which looked like they could encompass and seal all of it if needed.

"Video Man, Golden Star's number one radio actor, has proclaimed the Universal Radio Actors' Day: January the 22nd!"

The Net Navi named Video Man had a body the main color of which was black but he had a round "play" symbol colored green set on the middle of the chest with two round buttons on both sides of it: a shape reminiscent of the Alphabet letter "V" was set above the "play" symbol plus a round circle drawn around on the base of his neck.

His face was colored black and his eyes were colored green: he had a metallic structure set around and atop the head which included two dials on the sides of it and three connection ports colored yellow, white and red from left to right.

His shoulders were shaped like spheroids but were different: the left one was gray metallic while the right one was black with a red dome-shaped piece set atop it.

His arms' "skin" was black in color, too, but he had two parallel circular green stripes set slightly beneath the shoulder: his forearms were metallic and had some kind of tape set on them which interconnected with each other.

His hands were colored black, too, and had no outstanding features on either of them.

The rest of his torso was colored black and it had another green-colored shape reminiscent of the Alphabet letter "V" set on it towards the spot where a person's stomach would be at.

His legs had four small "V" shape stripes set on a vertical row around the hips: four of them.

Another two circular stripes parallel to each other were placed around the knees and on the ankles: his feet were shaped like rectangles.

Overall, he looked like a moving VHS playback machine.

"Getting serious… Or blog is rising in popularity! Our radio adaptations of Master Ibañez's works are a great success!" He laughed.

"Shah, shah, shah! Gimme Needle Man – sama some credit!"

"Of course, my fellow conspirer! It's thanks the efforts of us three that we've come this far." Video Man grinned.

"Shah, shah, shah! Oh yeah!"

Needle Man, on the other hand, was slightly shorter in height than Video Man but easily over a meter and sixty centimeters tall despite his bulky shape.

His face's skin was black, too, he had no nose, his eyes colored yellow with red irises and a smug smile was drawn on his face: a small red vertical rectangle was set on the forehead.

Four needles came out of the dome part of the body (and having an orange circular edge circling the spot from where they sprouted out from) around the head which was drawn inside of a larger needle.

His upper body was shaped like a circle with a dome over it: the color of his choice was navy blue: the front part of the circle had a rectangular vertical cavity cut out with eight curved metallic pieces in a vertical row.

His arms were human-like given how they were attached to the body: orange-colored bands split it in two halves with the upper half being colored navy blue and the lower half tinted sky blue.

A needle came out of each shoulder, too: four blackish long fingers were set at the ends of the arms.

The armor ended below the torso: the rest of his body's skin was plain black in color plus a small orange spot below the upper body.

The boots began over the knees and followed the same pattern as in the arms: a needle came out from the armor over each knee: they had a small hollow cavity cut close to the heel.

Overall he looked like a walking spiky object.

"Shah, shah, shah! I love pumping these hallucinogens into small fry Navis and have they run straight away thinking they're being chased by a non-existent dragon!"

"Excellent, gentlemen. I think I'll go meet with Mr. President right away to present my report… Joel Agoras has spoken."

Joel Agoras was a young man who appealed to be close to 20 years of age and having a height of about meter and eighty centimeters.

His hair's color was a bright brown one and it was rather messy and forming flocks there and there while a pair of reading glasses hid his eyes: he had a creepy smile across his face.

His choice of clothing happened to be a white shirt with a collar having four buttons on it plus a teal brown coat over it which was open in the middle: he finished the set with a pair of grayish wool pants and simplistic brown shoes.

He even had the book _The Sign of Four_ on his right hand and which had a marker to signal the spot he was at: by looking it at from above it was clear that he'd finished about half of the book.

"Victor, my fellow… Maybe we should start by commenting my opinions of these intriguing incidents?"

"By Moran! I'd rather do that, yeah."

"Uncle Moran is on our side, then."

Victor, the Net Navi, was as tall as his Operator and even surpassed by him by a whole five centimeters.

His helmet's surface was covered in a grid of brown tiles separated by black lines and columns: a bright yellowish jewel had been set on the center of the forehead: the ear-pads had his initial, the Alphabet "V" letter colored golden, drawn over them.

Blue transparent shades were installed over his eyes the irises of which were brown: his face had a smooth look to it and could even be considered attractive as seen from the sides.

His main body had that same pattern printed over it and his chest emblem's edge was colored red, green and blue in different percentages while the golden "V" was set against a white background.

His shoulders had eight-pointed stars drawn over them colored red, green and blue at random while his arms also had the grid pattern printed over their skin: the forearms were colored navy blue with dusty brown bands circling around their length.

The legs kept on using the grid pattern over it and the boots happened to have the Alphabet initials "RGB" with each letter printed on their corresponding color, set over them.

Overall he looked like a combination of the three basic colors and a brown grid: his expression denoted amusement.

"That tweed-coat pattern suits you, my fellow." Agoras joked and directed a welcoming smile at him.

"Elemental, my dear Joel – kun." He joked next.

"Ah. You came. The President awaits you two…"

"Oh. Ms. Secretary… It is an honor, ma'am."

"Surely, ma'am. Is everything alright?"

"… It is. You should get on the move."

"Roger, ma'am."

A woman who appealed to be on her 30s had appeared on the deck while walking with long strides.

Her face's shape looked nice but if one tried to look at it as a profile then it lost most of its charm.

She wore a black hat set to that it hid her gaze and she wore a black blouse plus a pair of jeans and rain boots: her hands were covered by gloves as well.

Something about her transmitted a feeling of authority and command as she spoke: everyone quickly saluted.

"We'll be going, our fellow conspirers. We'll be glad to hear to another of your plays soon enough." Agoras announced.

"We'll be looking forward to it."

"Count on us." Video Man proudly replied.

"Shah, shah, shah!"

Agoras and Victor headed further in until they spotted an opened blast door like those in ships and submarines to contain the water: this door had a small square in front of it and two basketball baskets set on the left and right sides plus the floor had been painted to recreate a basketball playing field: Agoras and Victor stepped through the open door into a small hall where a freight elevator's doors were located at: Agoras called for it and it turned out to be on their floor so the doors immediately opened allowing them access: both guys stepped inside and Victor pressed the button labeled "2nd Deck" to start the descent.

"How many days has it been since our last visit?" Agoras distractedly asked him.

"29. Including winter break which we spent at your parents' cabin in NE Gunma…" Victor immediately replied.

"29! My word! I thought it'd been 15 at the most. The chemistry exams have kept me stressed to no end but I passed with noble marks. I deserved them after all my effort."

"Of course. Ah. Here we are."

The elevator pinged and both stepped out through the northern door and into a corridor leading straight into the cafeteria yet there were two doors placed opposite each other labeled "VICE PRESIDENT _NOIR_ OFFICE" and "PRESIDENT HADES OFFICE" and each one having an adjacent code-inputting panel plus a built-in interphone.

"Our first stop."

Agoras pressed the button on the interphone and it buzzed: a man's voice rang out through it.

"Who is it?"

"Joel Agoras, sir."

"Oh! Agoras – kun! It's been TOO long, my young gentleman. Do come inside and let's have a nice debate… Is Mr. Victor there too?"

"I am, sir."

"Excellent. Please wait a minute. There."

The door buzzed and Agoras pushed it open: both stepped into an office room containing a desk and visitor chairs plus a set of three metallic drawers to store files yet the only piece of non-practical furniture was a canvas hanging from the furthest wall and having an oil-based drawing of a four-mast windjammer sailing into the sunset.

"Welcome."

The man sitting on the chair behind the desk looked up from the laptop computer opened atop it.

He appealed to be around 26 years of age and as having a height of a meter and eighty-five centimeters: his hair was neatly combed and brownish in coloring: his eyes' irises were brown in coloring and he was clean shaven.

His clothes consisted on a black suit coupled with black tie and black quality pants: he looked like a typical businessman.

A gray trench coat was hanging from a perch set in the right wall near the door along with a brown hat having a black band around it.

"Have a seat."

"We are sorry to intrude, sir, during work-time…"

"Do not mind it… We've had some fresh developments. In your absence Suzuki – san proved to have caught on the most recent pattern by a pair of vault-breakers… And we got a substantial prize… This video record: we can now name the culprit of those inhuman murders as well as their appearance… Be ready, though…" He told them: his voice and face turned grave.

"We are ready, sir." Victor couldn't avoid making a gulp-like noise as if he was afraid of what they were going to see.

"Here it is."

The man, President Hades, displayed the famed video and both Agoras and Victor gasped in momentary horror upon seeing it: they soon recovered and made no comment until the video stopped: Agoras rubbed his chin.

"Have we figured out anything?"

"Our Net Police Cyber CID first-hand source told us Mr. Meijin's analysis led him to conclude this is a robot piloted by a Net Navi like sometimes bulldozers and trains are driven by both human and Net Navi pilots at the same time." He told them.

"I see. Dullahan…"

"We figured out the origin of the name and the reason for its dramatic appearance too… Dullahan is an Irish mythological character often depicted as a headless haunted knight. Yet this one's concrete size, coloring and other details are not mere coincidence. The design was extracted from a game known as _Golden Sun: The Lost Age_ and another named _Golden Sun: Pitch-black Dawn_."

"_Golden Sun_? I'd heard of them." Victor admitted.

"This "Dullahan" character is the most powerful of both games' hidden bosses guarding access to the most powerful "Summon Sequence" in the game using the Sun's power… Iris. His only words before challenging the player's party are… "I am the one guarding the "Light". If you wish the Sun's power then show me your power." … He is a terrific "Hidden Boss" which can easily smash any party, be it ill-prepared or properly prepared and defeating it is no easy thing to do…"

"Hum. So it was picked because it's a strong enemy which knows no rival and ranks above all enemies…" Agoras guessed.

"And we've found out something else… He has access to some new-model "Dimensional Converters" allowing for him to move around easily and largely undetected…"

"Then he isn't alone. Building those mustn't be easy or cheap even if you had the schematics." Victor muttered.

"It isn't." He quickly confirmed with a sigh.

"Someone is pulling the strings behind him… Some kind of commander or superior… But without any more information… They could be anywhere in the world for all we know and the "DC" can give them unlimited range as long as they find a big enough room…"

"In short: we're not sure what to do next."

"No except hoping for some developments… I now feel like that Sweddish mystery writer, Henning Mankell's, character, Inspector Kurt Wallander of the Ystad Police… Sometimes even the police can't proceed with the current data and have to hope something will end up happening which would allow them to get their hands on some new data…" He admitted with a sigh and leant backwards on the chair.

"Are you alright, sir? You look tired." Victor looked concerned.

"This financial crisis. It's been a throwback for the insurance company I'm working with part-time… Luckily I still have some salesman instincts left on me to turn up new clients with offers which have had to adapt to the current financial times…" He admitted.

"You should not force yourself, sir… After all… Today is a Sunday and even in Ameroupe it's Saturday…" Agoras suggested.

"Thank you, but I won't feel like it until I manage to close down this new contract… You may leave."

"Alright, sir… We are sorry we weren't of help."

"We robbed you of your time, sir…"

"No, no… As I said… We must hope something is picked by our System's filters and that it leads us on the right direction…"

"Good morning, sir."

"Don't force yourself, sir."

"Thank you, gentlemen."

Agoras and Victor came out and locked the door behind them while looking worried: they spotted "Ms. Secretary" standing at their right while leaning against the wall and crossing her arms: her gaze was lowered and she looked troubled too.

"He forces himself too much. It is not fair." She muttered.

"Of course it isn't, ma'am, yet, duty…" Victor bowed.

"I know. One cannot claim of being responsible if they do not fulfill their assigned duty. Yet sometimes…"

She trailed off and sighed while finally heading down the corridor: both guys walked it down and soon spotted an armored door with the name "JOEL AGORAS & VICTOR" set on it: Agoras inputted a code and they stepped into a cabin having two beds, a closed porthole with curtains covering it, a desk and an adjacent bathroom: Victor picked a chair and sat down on it while looking depressed while Agoras opened the porthole and let some air come inside: he also picked a chair and sat down nearby while looking worried too.

"So… What do we do, Joel – kun?" Victor asked with obvious resignation in his voice.

"Wish I knew." Agoras absent-mindedly replied as he carefully slid his right hand's index finger down across the cover of the book.

"Even Holmes would have refused to do anything without having more data. I know he had contacts everywhere and his "Baker Street Irregulars" too but… We've got the most advanced filtering and classifying system in the world and it's taken us half a year to figure this out. Someone smart has quickly found a loophole around it and has pressured the underworld to act like that… Now the only data we pick are about foreign things or red-light district things… The foreign things are handled by their own nations or whoever is in charge of them but we can handle the red-light jerks…" Victor thought aloud.

"Not even a name… Dullahan: its mere form is a total rip-off. But he's had to find a way to build "Dimensional Converters"… He's got to have some money, he or his bosses. And brains to build it too. Maybe they sneaked into the Science Labs and made copies of the schematics we leant to them or the old original schematics drawn by Hikari Tadashi – hakase back in the 90s…" Agoras tried to sum up the whole affair.

"And the guy imposes fear and ensures control of the underworld by leaving a trail of deformed and crushed corpses… Heck: you'd need a Hellfire missile if you want to stand a chance against him but any missile exploding at close-quarters can easily kill you too."

"You'd need to lure him into the open and I'm not sure if even a tank could harm them."

"Don't be so pessimistic. The guy has to walk. If you want it to, the metal can't be very heavy. The heavier the more powerful engine you're gonna need and the more powerful the engine the more powerful power source you're gonna need and so on…" Victor argued back.

"True. It'd be stupid to build a robot and then find out it can only walk like 5 meters in 20 seconds. No. The thing must be agile and the armor must be a metal and carbons compound… I heard that some plans for such an armor designed by NASA to better fit heat shields which planet-dropping probes need were hacked back in June by someone…"

"And that someone applied them into that robot's armor: at least we have an approximate idea of the kind of armor. But they could've improved on it as well."

"Speculation! Vain speculation. Empty speculation. We can't keep on walking down this road. We need something solid." Agoras grumbled in obvious exasperation.

"Maybe _Solid_ Snake can find it for us?" Victor sarcastically suggested while lifting his eyebrows.

"Humpf. How funny." He was now annoyed, for once.

"If only we had a footprint or some cloth piece…"

"A robot doesn't leave footprints on concrete ground even if it's tall and heavy: and even less if they just stand there for five minutes. This is not late 19th century or early 20th century King Land, Victor. This is Japan, the 21st century, and things work very different indeed."

"I knew that."

"Che! Let devil bite me if now the guy will pull back and stop altogether to make our frustration grow while he laughs at us from behind the iron curtain…" Agoras' hands convulsed as if he was wishing to seize something and not let go of it.

"The iron curtain fell along with Berlin's wall…"

"The veil of secrecy, then!" He improvised.

"My bad. I didn't want to pick on you but…"

"It doesn't matter. We can't start fighting like old rascals: we must keep Golden Star's reputation intact."

"Dullahan…! That bothersome jerk… Oh how I'd love to stand in front of him and bathe him in flames from the Hell's Burner Battle Chip while saying "You're fired"…!" Victor made a grimace.

Both Operator and Net Navi remained silent yet tension was building up on the air: a race to find the culprit had begun…


	3. Chapter 3: The Seraphs

**Chapter 3: The Seraphs**

12:29 PM (Japan Time), Wednesday February the 5th…

"… All of us have gathered. Let us begin."

"Yes, Number One."

"Let the Great Council of the Seraphs reflect upon itself."

"Long live to the Great Seraph."

"Good. Enough preludes. Let us get to the point, gentlemen."

Twelve men wearing cyan and white tunics with hoods to hide their faces and golden medallions with a Roman numeral painted silver upon their surface were sitting in red-colored leather-bound armchairs set around a mahogany circular table within a room decorated with expensive and exotic Indian carpets and wall-paper plus a glass chandelier.

All of the men appealed to have a height of over a meter and eighty yet given their masks their age was impossible to guess: one of them, the one having the Roman numeral "I" drawn on his medallion, seemed to be the commanding one given how the others made a military salutation as response to his words.

"My agent reported to me. Apparently the Great Seraph has decided to bring an end to the current campaign because the perpetrator, that robot His Grace built, code-named "Dullahan", has been exposed and thus the grace has been lost. Yet it would seem such an occurrence was expected by His Grace given how the campaign had been winding down as of late to begin with… His Grace is seemingly planning something new yet no details would be told to my agent." The man with the numeral "VI" reported as he looked up from some notes.

"I see. So His Grace has something in mind… Regarding the construction of "it", Number Six…" The commanding man brought up.

"On schedule, Number One… By the end of this month or beginning of the next one if no interruptions happen…" The member known as "Number Six" replied.

"Good. So it would seem His Grace has read things ahead of the authorities: it once again proves that His Grace has sharpened himself after that blowing reveal in September…" "Number One" sounded rather satisfied with the news.

"Regarding my assigned territories… Final preparations are underway and should be completed in about a week from now." "Number Eleven" reported next

"My area is a bit more complicated and not so easy to penetrate but we have had made substantial progress… We have stirred those extreme right-winged men and although they have decreasing importance they have the right connections…" "Number Three" added.

"It is to be expected." "Number Two" merely muttered.

"I have been running the usual searches and search-bots yet there is no document accessible to the masses in which our name shows up: only our multiple branches and cover companies show up from time to time but the details are scarce." "Number Ten" sounded proud of it.

"Good, good. As scheduled." "Number Nine" sounded satisfied.

"Say, Number Eight…" "Number Four" called out.

"Yes, Number Eight?"

"Is your front progressing?"

"Oh yes. It is. They are very efficient. All is ready and they are just concealing any information and movements."

"Excellent. I can see it… The day in which we will rise…" "Number Five" sounded eager.

"By the way, I think our usual tea is coming. That new waiter is a competent young man: he always prepares it properly and is strictly punctual… What was his name again?" "Number Twelve" asked.

"Let me search… Darkus Mors. 26. Thailand Citizen. Yet his English has clearly improved ever since his timid initial level." "Number Seven" read.

"Do excuse me… The tea is here, sires."

"Come in."

"I apologize for the intrusion, sires."

A young man wearing a white waiter's suit and pushing a tea-trolley came into the room through a set of two mahogany doors guarded by two bodyguards at both sides of it.

The man appealed as being close to the meter and eighty centimeters tall spot: he had neatly combed blackish hair and his eyes' irises were brown in color.

He had no trace of a beard or moustache so he still retained a youthful appearance.

His voice was polite and yet his English had a slight but barely noticeable foreign accent to it when pronouncing the "l" sound.

"Leave them in their usual place, young Mors. That will be all for the day, anyway." "Number One" commanded.

"Yes, sir. _Semper fi_."

The man, Mors, left the cups on the table along with the steaming tea-pot before making a reverence and coming out the way he came in: the doors were closed and the men lifted their face hoods by a portion to expose their mouths and noses: all of them were shaved yet their shape suggested an age compressed between their 50s and their 60s: "Number One" suddenly seemed to frown and stopped drinking.

"What in the…"

He pulled a string of something else which wasn't the tea-bag and drew a small hermetic plastic case with an USB pen drive stored inside of it: all of the other men looked in his direction too.

"WHO smuggled this into the tea? It cannot have been Mors, can it? I think he knows well enough what his place is!"

"Maybe we should investigate it?" "Number Twelve" asked.

"Of course! Let us get to the end of this."

He pulled down his face hood and stood up to head for a mahogany cupboard close by: he picked a MacBook from there and placed it atop the table after plugging the charger to the electricity input: he quickly connected the USB pen drive and looked at its contents.

"D-View by some company named D-Link… It apparently allows entrance into a wireless Internet-streamed surveillance camera somewhere and there's a TXT file here with the username and password… Let us see who is behind this joke." He fumed.

He started the program and the live feed of a camera showed up: he immediately gasped.

"T-this is…!"

The room being displayed over the screen had white marble tiles set on the ground, walls and ceiling: two closed oak doors were set on the western wall, the eastern one had a large world map drawn on it and the south wall had two open balcony doors: the north end of the room had an elevated platform with three stone steps climbing until they reached a white marble throne built on it: this throne had the drawing of an angel's silhouette having two large white feathered wings unfolding to their full length behind him with the Sun rising behind him.

"H-His Grace's quarters…!" He muttered.

"WHAT?"

Everyone quickly ran up to form a group standing next and behind him to look into the camera: they could presently hear the sound of footsteps walking into the room from a spot out of sight from the camera: the footsteps halted and everyone seemed to be tensely waiting for something to happen.

"That manner of walking, those long strides… They're not His Grace's usual footsteps." "Number One" muttered.

"Why. You're correct." A voice rang out.

A tall man around a meter and eighty centimeters in height showed up and turned around to look at the camera: everyone was surprised because they clearly didn't know him from anywhere.

The helmet design was compact and thick included silver plating around the neck and its base, a main purple and black coloring, black shades and a green symbol which looked like a unicursal hexagram colored pale green and having some unknown runes written on its circular edge painted on the forehead.

He wore some curious armor over his body: it was colored with purple tones on the outer edges but black on the center: the same forehead emblem was set on the middle of his chest.

His shoulders were black ellipsoids with purple-colored outer edges and having some other green fluorescent runic symbols drawn over them: his arms "skin" was black in color and the armor over the forearms had an external golden rim from which three parallel golden lines extended until the fingertips.

The feet armor started at the knees and used a tint of purple for the outer edges but the main armor kept on using the black motif: silver-colored lines extended parallel to each other until the feet fingertips.

The unarmored body "skin" was also black in color and had intricate green fluorescent patterns running down its sides, front and rear.

Although the camera's feed wasn't precisely HD it could be seen that his exposed nose and jaw looked like those of a man on his mid-20s given its smoothness.

"Before you start flooding me with questions, gentlemen, I'll gladly announce who I am: the successor of the Mighty Seraph who passed away on November the 27th to stomach cancer he'd developed… But I've been training for close to a year to be his successor… Do you remember how he had a long-lasting interest in archaeology? It was during one of those expeditions in Thailand in which we met... He found out a little something by running an investigation on me and which convinced him I'd do a good successor… And thus here I am."

"Then… What might your name be, Your Grace?"

"Prince… Kuroban Howsad."

"Prince?" The twelve men wondered.

"Indeed. What the Mighty Seraph found out happened to be the fact that I am the current descendant of an old kingdom which occupied north of modern-day Thailand, SE Burma, SW Laos and a portion of Cambodia as well… After our fall the royal family has gone underground and continued passing down the tradition and lineage from the ancient days. By the way, do you remember about Mors' increasingly improving English and his accent?" He explained before switching topics.

"Of course. Your Grace ordered him to deliver this?"

"Sort of. See: the Mighty Seraph wished of me to test you gentlemen to see if you would remain loyal to the goal of us "Seraphs" even without orders from the top for a long period of time… And the best way to do that was to get someone inside to have a taste of the atmosphere. It felt rather energized, which is good." He sounded amused.

"And we have passed the trial?"

"With flying colors. The "Seraphs" are a great success."

"Excellent!" They all eagerly muttered.

"_Semper fi_."

"Mors told Your Grace about his Marine Corps motto?"

"No. I picked it up myself."

He suddenly took off the helmet to reveal Darkus Mors' face and everyone gasped while being taken aback by the move.

"Your Grace was… young Darkus Mors?" "Number One" asked.

"Correct, gentlemen. The best way to fool the enemy is fool the ally and we have been taught to shed pride and nobility away when the moment calls for it. Thus it was no big deal for me to "step down"…"

"W-we see."

"Don't worry. Nothing will change in a radical manner. The campaign I had "Dullahan" stir up was all a ruse to focus the cops' and the public's eyes on a dead end, a _cul-de-sac_. Someone else will take over where "Dullahan" has stopped and will stall for the necessary time before "it" is completed and brought to activation." He told them.

"Ah. Yet, it would seem there is another person in the topmost floor living with Your Grace…?"

"Ah. Yes, yes. I recruited a man who has talent for slipping into society, listening and spreading misinformation to lead all curious into dead ends and by the time they realize that they have already been forced to do what seems to be a blind chase after a non-existent goal: thus they lose credit to them and most think them to be fools placing the blame in a non-existent plot. This man worked in the same archaeological excavation and handled all incoming communications with the site. His good Japanese and English were of help to me but I also got feedback from you gentlemen… But he's under my direct command and will not interfere with the Council at all. He's my middle man between the "Charon Brotherhood" I commissioned and me. Dread Baron was ordered to say the orders were direct sans middle men but that was because I was taking into account the remote possibility of someone hearing into his communications. If they tried to trace me they'd find my middle man ready to turn them into a blind track."

"Oh! How brilliant, sir. Give the enemy confidence and ego, lure them into a blind alley and then smash those…" "Number One" sounded fascinated with the idea.

"His Grace believed it was time for a newer generation to help bring fresh ideas to the "Seraphs" but without changing the basic structure. I've done some purging of useless employees in our proxy companies because they were expendable and brought in competent people. All was done through a chain of varying proxies so tracing those to me was not possible because the information got lost somewhere along the chain. I know you were puzzled by those but I thought you'd figured them out by now."

"Oh! True, true…"

"So, Your Grace…"

"No, no. His Grace deserved the title. You may just call me "Leader" or "Prince" but I do not deserve the title. I have to work to deserve it: I did not become the Prince by mere birth: I had to prove my worthiness in several trials." He replied.

"Alright, then… Prince."

"That's good. My intention, as I have already said, is to use the "Charon Brotherhood" as tools to draw attention away from the main body of the "Seraphs" and stall for time until "it" is completed… And you don't need to be concerned when it comes to Golden Star because I'll soon find a way to keep them busy enough too… I've arranged my plans and everything is ready: don't be surprised if you hear that the numbers of inhabitants of the topmost floor rooms' increases because I will be recruiting some people to form part of a little program of mine… They will be the heroes to wield the blades and fight our worthy rivals…" He smiled as he put on the helmet again and covered his face.

"We understand. So we should remain as we are yet let out no hints that anything has changed to begin with?"

"Correct. That's my intention: give the snooping hounds the scent of resignation, bad mood, low morale and such. It will make their ego rise and they will feed on it… And it'll be only at the moment we strike that they'll realize their own foolishness."

"Bravo!" Everyone clapped.

"And if I continue on acting as if I was Darkus Mors then pretend nothing's changed too. I will use whatever means are needed to bring stability to the "Seraphs" and turn them into a feared name."

"Roger!"

"Well then. Let us speak again soon enough."

"Let us continue, brethren! Long live to the "Seraphs"!"

13:03 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Heh, heh, heh. Not bad, _aibou_."

"Heh. It was so easy… My initial estimate of their behavior ended up being correct. Would I make a good radio actor?"

"Sure thing. You'd get all the possible prizes and beat that Orson Welles guy to it by the way."

"Orson Welles?"

"Well! Some guy of the 20s and 30s… He jumped to fame because he had the bright idea to air a radio dramatization of an early sci-fi novel titled _War of the Worlds_ and make it sound like it was happening for real: most people had tuned in when they were in the midst of the program and mass hysteria ensued. They barely paid attention at being told it was a "play" at all. Some good sound effects, a dramatic real-sound dispatch and there you have it."

"Amusing. The fear gripped them and they did not pay attention to the reminders that it wasn't the real thing…"

Prince Kuroban Howsad had seated on the throne and was looking at a guy standing in front of him while chatting.

The guy was clearly over a meter and sixty centimeters tall, maybe closer to a meter and seventy.

His approximate age was around 15 or 16: his face had a smooth form to it yet his eyes' irises were blood red and gave off a sinister vibe followed by the slightly sharp nose and his broad evil grin.

His green hair was totally messy and grew until the base of the neck while having a purple-colored plastic piece forming an arch starting over the ears and extending backwards but which didn't contribute to keep the shape but rather seemed to be an accessory to appeal as "cool" and fashionable.

His clothing was something rather new and innovative too and seemed to be self-made.

To begin with: his shirt's color was a shade of bright gray and it had a partial vest integrated with it colored using two shades of purple, one brighter and one less bright.

The brighter bands of purple ran across the sleeves starting atop the shoulders and extended until the wrists while also drawing an external edge for the partial torso-only vest.

This vest started at the neck and shoulders but only reached until a third across the height of the upper body: seen from the front it had a form reminiscent of the Alphabet character "U" turned downwards by 180 degrees.

His vest also was innovative in the fact that it included two small yellow squares with what could plastic clips colored orange/red attached to their lower end from below.

His pants were plain and didn't stand out too much save for their purplish coloring and the gray knee protections.

He wore fingerless grayish gloves over his hands as well.

The sneakers, however, were designed to incorporated gray soils into them while the main body was white in color: their design was plain and had no Velcro straps or strings plus a thin yellow stripe running across it climbing upwards as seen from the front edge to then climb downwards.

He lastly carried a silver and purple-colored Link PET the emblem of which was a gray-colored spheroid of energy with thunderbolts emerging from it and aiming for all eight cardinal directions: its rim was painted in a black color as well.

He currently was toying with the PET by tossing it upwards some inches and then catching it back as he spoke with Kuroban.

"So, Gray. Do you intend to draw them into the picture?"

"Yeah. I'll stage a little ruckus in the town and they'll come: there'll be a good chance to check on their battling methods and collect data which can then be studied and analyzed."

"Good. But try not to leave any direct evidence. Use the new-breed Viruses and the device we spoke of. It'll give them something to think but it's a blind alley as well. Tease them over the phone but try to be vague and say nothing specific."

"Don't worry. I've prepared a string of mottoes which will drive the guys into the wall and fill them up with exasperation. They'll be SO annoyed that they won't have time or mood to think things twice thus stepping into the trap by walking across the red carpet." He sneered.

"Good, good! Let them experience frustration and powerlessness: now that that damned interloper can't get at me anymore then nothing can go wrong. Not even Golden Star will be able to retrieve anything from the device because we've designed it so that it can't be traced: you can know how it works and how it's built but that's all." Kuroban intercrossed both hands' fingers and lifted them to touch his chin from below while forming a smug smile.

"Yessir. They're gonna be boiling soon enough."

"Hmpf… Good. You can do as you feel like but remember to act on these instructions. Return when you feel like it and do as you like: you're my right-hand man but I want us to be in… hum… business-like… terms with each other. Or you could say I'm the teacher and you the pupil as well since we're at it…" He made an inviting gesture with the hand.

"Sure thing, _aibou_… Just leave it to me: I'll handle the field, you handle the Almost Unfortunate Club."

"Why "Almost" Unfortunate Club?"

"They're 12. But if they'd been 13 they'd gotten some nice messes by now, I'd rather say." He chuckled.

He gripped the PET and stepped out into the balcony: the wind made the curtains swing and he was hidden from sight although there was a flash of light followed by a sound and then the balcony turned out to be empty and devoid of life.

"Heh. If only they knew…"

13:25 PM (Japan Time)…

"… I insist! There was a suspicious Navi roaming around here for the last three or four days."

"Well, sir… No offense: but all sensor data says there wasn't such a Navi to begin with and no – one has come inside."

"Sensor data my ass! If I say there was one then there was one!"

"Jeez. Blues. Any luck?"

"No, sir. There are no signs of foul play and I can't pick up any malware or anything like that."

"Before calling on us try checking your employees' backgrounds in case someone is in league with unpleasant guys and that they're not trying to steal off money off the shop."

"Hmpf! Alright. But I'm disappointed in you guys."

"I'm not in Cyber CID to be a detective: I'm here to fix already ongoing problems. Now, if you will excuse me…"

_Not so fast, my buddy… _No pain no gain_!_

Enzan had been speaking with the owner of an electronics store somewhere in Densan City (inferred by the tall buildings) while the guy known as "Gray" (now wearing sunglasses over his eyes) spied on them from close by as he appeared to be looking at one of the exhibits on the left side of the building and thus being hidden from Enzan's sight: he'd taken out an already used chewing gum which was partially wrapped around an object having the size of a marble ball: he used the right index finger's nail to slide a switch from the "OFF" position to "ON" and quickly finished wrapping it as he stuck it on the SE corner of the large exhibition glass and in front of a set of "Full HD" TVs: chuckling under his breath he crossed the street and then headed down an alley while Enzan apparently finished the talk and began to head away.

_Struggle for a bit! Will ya, Ijuuin Enzan, my fella? By Uncle Moriarty's stick and hat: this is just a teaser!_

"Oi! You! What's going on?"

"Hmmm?"

"Look at my TVs! They're not working properly!"

"Weird. They were two minutes ago."

"Enzan – sama: I detect a huge amount of Viruses flowing into the store's systems from all nearby devices!"

"What!"

"What are you waiting for?"

"Alright, alright…"

The TVs had suddenly begun to frizzle and malfunction so the store owner called for Enzan to come fix it: Blues reported on the situation so Enzan hurried over to the exhibition windows: the TVs were now displaying the same message:

"UNCLE MORIARTY RETURNS WITH A VENGEANCE: A REVENGEANCE HAS BEGUN!"

"How idiotic. Plug – In! Blues! Transmission!" He growled.

_This is where it gets interesting. Let's use our machine to check it out too and… Hmmm? Someone else just came inside… Oho, oho. I know who this fella is… Amusing! Show me what ya can do._

"… Golden Star's Beta X… You're fast."

"I was investigating these guys."

"Why? They belong to someone?"

"Haven't you realized yet, Blues? Look at them."

"Huh? Ah! They're all a new breed!"

"Zero has been investigating them for several days. They'd begun to spread around there and there but they were always giving us the slip along with some unidentified figure…"

"Gray" looked at his PET's projected holographic screen while having walked out of the alley and leaning his back against a nearby building: he had a smug smile on his face.

_Golden Star's Hades Department's Beta X…_

"… Anyway. Let's bust 'em and try to take a specimen each to have the Science Labs have a look at 'em."

"Deal."

Beta X, the newcomer Net Navi, appealed as being close to a meter and seventy centimeters tall yet Blues was taller than him by a margin of about 5 centimeters.

His eyes' irises were blood red in coloring but they lacked pupils: his facial expression denoted seriousness.

His helmet's main color was black as well yet he had some blue pieces of armor built around the edges of it and across the middle of the helmet.

The ruby had been set directly above his nose and was aiming downwards along his helmet's front part.

The helmet included five extensions shaped like wings and colored white plus a golden edge: two formed on the lower edge of the helmet, another two formed at a height over the eyes and the last one sprouted from the middle of his helmet while aiming upwards.

His main body's color choice was black: he had a white piece of armor set over the chest which contained a ruby jewel and two wing-like extensions spreading across the torso until the shoulders: the golden-colored Alphabet "X" character was set within a piece of armor located over the upper edge of the ruby.

A golden edge surrounded his neck and formed a small collar-like object around it: his shoulders had white armor over it: three thin spear-like extensions formed behind them and gave off the impression of a wing as well: the uppermost piece was golden in coloring while the other two pieces were white.

His arms' skin was black until the elbow: white armor encompassed it and extended until the hands and fingers: a golden ring served as additional protection for the wrists.

The rest of his upper body had no decoration whatsoever until the hips, where the leg armor began at: a golden edge in the shape of a triangle marked the start of it.

The rest of the legs' armor was painted using white color palette: the knees had extra armor over them and two small and short wing-like extensions.

Golden pieces of armor showed up over the ankles yet there was a space between them and the legs: they were bent upwards to form a triangle and included the wing shapes on their edges.

Lastly, his feet's armor included two pieces of outer edge and another two pieces which were separated by a slight space between the front and the rear of them.

Overall, his appearance was reminiscent of a "fallen angel" given the color motifs and all the winged extensions.

"Yo~! So we finally meet, Ijuuin. Miquel's been talking a lot 'bout ya so I wanted to see of what stuff ya are made off. Guess steel's the answer to begin with."

"Zarashe Wan… Steel, me? Well. Why not… Anyway… We gotta focus on that taking these down."

Zarashe Wan, Beta X's Operator, had a height similar to that of Enzan but fell short by about 7 centimeters of beating him to it.

He had jet black hair was totally uncared for having small spikes aiming everywhere: he looked around fifteen or sixteen years old and although he sported a pair of sunglasses over his eyes Enzan could spot that they were emerald green in color.

Today his choice of clothes consisted in a black wool sweater, a pair of jeans and black boots plus fingerless gloves and sunglasses.

He carried his Link PET with a golden Alphabet "X" character as an emblem and colored blue and white on the right hand and was using the holographic screen to navigate.

"Go, Beta X!"

"Charge Shot!"

"Hit them, Blues!"

"Sonic Boom!"

_Sweat a bit more! Will ya? Heh, heh, heh!_

"… What! Look, Enzan – sama! Some kind of "black hole" has just opened a new batch came in!"

"Damn. That thing again…! Yesterday it was 66 Spark Bees: it was like running from a whole hive's bees and trying to pick them off in packs which wasn't funny!"

"Gray" chuckled under his breath as Blues jumped around the air and sliced Viruses while Beta X dashed across it: his mere dashing energy could delete some Viruses while others were taken care of by a white buster weapon on his right forearm which had a fin-like shape forming mid-way through its length: a golden edge ran up the right edge of the buster as well: both were busy tackling some new-breed Viruses coming out of some sort of "black hole" in the midst of the "sky" and "Gray" looked like he was having fun with the whole ordeal given how his grin was growing wider.

"My PET's been making weird noises…" Enzan muttered all of a sudden while looking like he was thinking of something.

"How odd. Mine too." Zarashe admitted.

"Guess there's some kind of device around here which is emitting a lure signal to draw them in…! Find it!" Beta X replied.

"It should be very close by, sir!"

"Very close by…? Hey! Let's try that chewing gum."

_Ops. But, whatever. We'd foreseen this already._

"… Here. I turned it off." Enzan admitted.

"The Viruses have dispersed, Enzan – sama."

"But we were quickly enough to catch two specimens of this new-breed Mettool. Pick whichever suits you: I'm gonna bring one to Zero and he'll inspect it to then dissect it and use alcohol to preserve it on a museum display." Zarashe told him while adding a joke.

"JEEZ!" Beta X didn't find it funny.

"Joking, my fellow conspirer! Just joking."

_Fellow conspirer? That sounds cool! I'll remember it._

"I'll have left. I'm going ASAP to the Science Labs. And something tells me whoever did this was here _VERY_ recently ago and was surely timing it just as I was wrapping up business… Did you mention some unidentified Navi before?"

"Yeah. But it's always been like what… A shape, a figure, nothing concrete, no voice, no real height or anything… Just a presence. Right, Beta? That's how you wrote it down on yesterday's report, didn't you?" Zarashe asked of him.

"Correct. It's just that: a "presence" which times its appearances while you're distracted with their cannon fodder and then they vanish as quickly as they came into it." Beta X told Blues.

"Hum. So maybe is picking on us…?" He wondered aloud.

"Dunno."

"We can settle that later. Ah, Zarashe… If you see Kage tell him I'll be expecting a free fight showdown with him soon enough."

"Sure."

_Free fight showdown with the ever-so-elusive Kage Miquel… That sounds intriguing. My fellow conspirers: get ready to welcome Mr. Plot!_

13:54 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hikari – hakase, sir… What is your take?"

"The device is some improved transmitter set to one specific frequency of about 450MHz. The Virus, though… That's where it gets interesting. I'll show you why."

"Please do so, sir."

"Yo~! Uncle Moriarty dropped by?"

"Oh heck."

"Oh no."

"Oh crap."

"The "Oh Something Club", then?"

"NO, SIR!"

"Heh, heh, heh."

Enzan had been standing in a lab room within the Science Labs' Silver Tower building and speaking with Yuuichirou as he looked up from a desk where he'd taken the device apart and studied each of its components with a microscope: Superintendent Oda happened to walk in to their dismay.

"Enzan – sama: the auto-phone, sir. Zarashe."

"That was fast. So, what have you found out?"

"Well. These Viruses are a new breed altogether, see. They're not your everyday bits and bytes. No, this is more like EM signals in the MHz band which have been coded and their analog data digitized like you when digitalizing an analog phone line… Zero calls them "EM Wave Viruses" for the time being." Zarashe summed up.

"That's the same conclusion we'd reached.

"Oh! Hikari – hakase, is it? It is an honor, sir."

"Well. Don't mind it."

"Heh, heh, heh." An unknown chuckle suddenly joined the conversation by apparently hijacking into it.

"Who goes there?" Enzan demanded.

"Gray."

"Gray?"

"Yessir. I made you guys sweat a bit, didn't the great I~?"

"So you're the culprit!" Zarashe grumbled.

"Elemental, my dear Lestrade."

"GRJTX! Tell that to Joel and Victor!"

"I'll do when I find out if they're afraid of hounds glowing in a demoniac manner in the moor or not." He laughed.

"Come on. That's a joke based on _The Hound of Baskervilles_."

"So! Who are you?" Zarashe demanded.

"Uncle Moriarty's favorite nephew."

"Oho, oho and OHO, I say!" Oda was excited.

"Oh heck." Both Zarashe and Enzan cursed.

"A flying fly of flies can fly across the flying fly." "Gray" made up a totally ridiculous motto.

"A guy with hammer and batter goes batter and hammer." Oda suddenly came up with a new one.

"As expected of Uncle Merton's favorite nephew: he's a genius. I'm light-years away from him at this rate." He feigned defeat.

"Mwah, hah, hah! I knew it! I'm - UNBEATABLE!"

"Oh how lovely! This rascal is fueling his ego to torment us! He's done his research!" Zarashe groaned.

"Yessir."

"Whaddya want?" Enzan snapped.

"Stir up some ruckus. In two days' time from now you'll get one little surprise, Ijuuin Enzan, you excellent first-rate hound."

"Hmpf!"

"I'll give it another shot. Ahem, ahem. The flying stick goes stick-flying with a flying winged hound-terrier hybrid."

"Oho. Terrific, my fellow! Truly!" Oda laughed.

"Someone shut them up." Enzan growled.

"By the way, Zarashe. Unless you're the TRANSLTR itself you can't break this code and by the time Zero starts dissecting it he'll end up in your own communications satellite 'cause I sent an agent there to intercept this secure line." "Gray" warned.

"Che. Clever bothersome jerk!" Beta X fumed.

"Totally." Blues growled.

"Alright, Uncle Moriarty's disciple! I won't lose so easily! Rolling Stone of Stone Rollings goes _Rock 'n Roll _on the Beatles!"

"Shut this damn channel, Zarashe!"

"I'm trying to! The jerk's frozen up the software on my PET and Beta X is trying to get rid of the running processes!"

"Falling Tower of Tower Falling will go Tower-Fall this _fall_ in the _tower_ _of nowhere_. How's that?"

"Good, my fellow! Good! Keep at it and you'll beat Uncle Moran to it: I'm sure of it, my fellow." Oda laughed.

"Enjoy!"

The line was released and the five guys fumed to vent off their bad mood.

"Uncle Merton's says you're - PROMOTED!"


	4. Chapter 4: Denpa  Henkan!

**Chapter 4: Denpa – Henkan!**

10:29 AM (Japan Time), Friday February the 7th…

"… Extra! Extra! Buy _Densan Times_! Extra! Extra!"

"Man! That guy either doesn't sleep or I dunno. In just two nights it robbed over 10 places!"

"Maybe it's a wizard?"

"Dunno."

"… Let's check it out. I'm fed up with this "wizard" talk…"

"I also skeptical of it, Enzan – sama…"

Enzan had been walking down a street in Densan City that morning when a newspapers' kiosk owner began to try to get the attention of the pedestrians: some of them bought the newspapers and began to mutter aloud while sounding nervous at the prospect while Enzan was obviously fed up with the chatter: he bought one too and began to read it as he continued down his path.

"…Hmpf… "THE MYSTERIOUS CHARON STRIKES BACK'… Hmmm… After stealing the ancient sword exhibited at Tokyo's Culture Museum, a scroll about the code of the traditional _ninjas_ at Hokkaido's Japanese History Museum, and the crown of one ancient emperor at Kyoto's City Museum during last night, the individual known as "Charon" has issued another message to the media. In it, he or she state that they will strike again tonight somewhere in Japan. No matter how powerful the security measures of any museum are they all end up being short-circuited and burnt whenever "Charon" appears on the scene. All security staff which has encountered the individual suffered an electrical shock and wake up with a slight loss of recent memory. The name comes from the fact that the scenes of the crime always have the name "Charon" written somewhere using a yellow crayon. The police are looking into the affair, but, insofar, there are no clues as to the exact nature of this individual and how they can rob five museums across the nation in just 6 hours last evening and the previous one…"

"Isn't it obvious, Enzan – sama, sir?"

"Yeah. "Dimensional Converters"… Golden Star speculated "Dullahan" might be using them so this "Charon" and that "Dullahan" are in league and even more with something _Noir_ sent me over the mail yesterday: the "Dullahan" in the game _Golden Sun: The Lost Age_ can use the second-most-powerful "Summon" in the game named "Charon" against the player's party to inflict massive and all-party damage thus adding another reason why "Dullahan" is easily one of the most frightening bosses ever fought…" He argued with Blues.

"Exactly, sir. The naming pattern cannot be coincidental, sir. I am convinced that they are in league with that "Gray" man as well and they are part of something, sir."

"Yeah. And that "something" has been clever enough to direct our attention into a ton of blind alleys. They've also been able to hide their existence from Golden Star's "System" and slipped out of the radar: this is not gonna be so nice. Golden Star made it clear from the start that they were trying to realize Serenade's visions and wishes and thus they rejected any unnecessary deletion and death too. And they've been loyal to their word. They were refreshing. A change of airs. But now these guys promise to be dangerous from the start and we could end up walking over thin ice even."

"Undoubtedly, sir."

"My, my. If it isn't our naughty boy… Ijuuin Enzan." A girl's voice suddenly rang out with a hint of sarcasm.

"Hmmm? Wait. You're…"

"Ikada Bertha. And here's Sandra."

"Yo."

"Hmpf… So… What have you figured out?"

"That you're naughty."

"And apart from that?"

"Zero has deduced that "Charon" is about 171cm tall, has good health, gives off a normal IR reading, he's a bona fide human, and can walk in long strides. He guesses his form of lifting objects and such is because he's a body builder."

Ikada Bertha showed up from behind Enzan all of a sudden but he wasn't surprised as he turned to face her.

She happened to be a woman on her early 20s and having long platinum blond hair plus eyes with blue irises to them: she had a ruthless-like figure to her.

She sported a simple green wool sweater plus navy blue jeans and a pair of black boots.

She carried simplistic-looking black handbag hanging from the right shoulder while a cobalt-colored Link PET with a golden-colored Alphabet "S" character on it as emblem was set on her arm-strap.

"Yo. And I'm Sandra."

Sandra, her Navi projected out of the Link PET with the normal-sized hologram and grinned.

Her bodysuit's main color was cobalt coupled with a golden band around the waist, golden shoulder plates and golden bracelets on both the wrists and the ankles.

Spiral-shaped magenta patterns travelled down her arms' and legs' surfaces while eight lines of the same color spread from the blackish edge of her chest emblem.

Her helmet had a ruby set on its forehead and her eyes irises' was green: her face was shaped like a woman on her late teens or early 20s and its profile had an almost smooth shape to it.

Overall she looked prideful and like she wanted to be ahead of the others given the brightness in her eyes.

"Hum. At least that's something useful. Did you detect how he moves around, anyway?"

"We believe it to be "Dimensional Converters" but he seems to use them while being literally underground so we dunno where he's picked up by those… And his random picking of targets makes it impossible to have anyone be ready on advance to seize more data… Our own data comes from one of last night's museums: we accessed their security server and we used their IR camera to figure this out." Sandra told Blues while shrugging her shoulders.

"I see."

"Hmmm?"

Enzan had distractedly stuffed his right hand on the right pocket when he noticed something which hadn't been there before: he took out a piece of folded paper which had a computer-written message recorded upon its surface.

"… "Densanville hound-sama! I'll be waiting to check what stuff ya are made of at the old video club store… Come ASAP and bring Uncle Merton's ill fortune along plus your Queen. Gray." … Gray! The culprit of the incident two days ago…! What sarcasm."

"Oh my. And he must've recognized us too."

"Stay outta this: it's my call."

"Sure, naughty boy. We'll have the "System" check on what's going over there and draw our own conclusions. See you around and try not to go too far with Wan 'cause he's my little toy-boy…" She giggled.

"Hmpf." He was unimpressed.

"See ya."

"Hmpf."

Ikada headed away while giggling under his breath while Enzan folded the newspapers and headed for the location while looking both untrusting and ready.

"Get ready." He muttered.

10:52 AM (Japan Time)…

"… And crashing goes the berserk 3:33 PM Oklahoma Express with the Alaska Express… I'm a genius!"

"There you are."

"Ijuuin! Come back from the moor, have you?"

"Shut up."

Enzan got inside of the unlit locale and found "Gray" sitting on a chair, swinging it backwards and leaning his feet atop the counter while clasping both hands behind his skull and acting just like he was the owner of the place to begin with: he still had his sunglasses on despite the low lighting and a broad grin was drawn across his face.

"Battle, are you going to?"

"Stop acting like Master Yoda." Enzan snapped.

"Oho. Hit a spot. Well then! Call me _Eisei Aaron_."

He lowered the feet into the ground and stood up while drawing his Link PET from the pants' right pocket and distractedly tapping it with his right hand's index and middle fingers.

"Eisei Aaron then. "Dullahan" and "Charon" are your pawns?"

"Not mine's. _Aibou_'s."

"And who's that?"

"Uncle Moriarty's half-brother's son: his favorite half-nephew." He laughed at the joke.

"Speak!"

"Speak, have you come to?"

"GRJFTX!"

"Heh, heh, heh. That annoyed face is funny. I could stare at it all day long and not get bored - at all."

"Get to the point or I'm gonna have you kiss the concrete floor in 10 seconds' time." He icily warned.

"I'd rather invite you to become one with the counter."

"Become one with the counter? Stop screwing me."

"Discuss, have you come to?"

"I'm about to go berserk." He warned.

"Oho. The 5:55 AM berserk express?"

"T-this JERK!" Enzan snapped.

"That sounded more like ya."

"You've researched on me." He guessed.

"Yessir. Uncle Moriarty told me to."

"Where's "Dullahan"?" Enzan demanded to know.

"In your imagination, Dr. Mortimer." He laughed.

Enzan lost all patience and tried to hit Eisei but he was maddening fast because he'd already stepped three paces to the right and Enzan's impulse made him run forward and hit the counter with his legs: he groaned and turned around to try to hit Eisei but he caught his fist with the left hand and whistled a tune while looking like it was no real effort for him: he suddenly applied pressure on Enzan's knuckles and Enzan yelped: Eisei delivered him a kick to the upper torso which made him recoil and fall into the ground: Eisei stuffed both hands on his pockets and then loomed over Enzan while having a smug smile on his face.

"You started it, Mr. Anderson."

"Fuck."

"Wanna have a new-gen showdown?"

"What, a Net Battle?"

"Close, Mr. Anderson, close."

"Fuck."

Enzan got to his feet just as Eisei began to do something with his Link PET while humming a tune: he accessed a menu and selected something titled "DH" to then confirm its activation: he held the Link PET up with his right hand and forward as if to showcase the thing.

"Heh, heh, heh! Look closely! Ijuuin Enzan! Blues! _Denpa – Henkan_! Eisei Aaron, On Air!"

"What!"

Light began to come out of the device in the form of eight streams of dull grayish light spreading in eight directions followed by a growing sphere of energy which grew past the size of the PET and the right hand: Eisei quickly lowered it to place it in front of his chest and grinned as it kept on expanding: the light forced Enzan to close his eyes and step back while shielding them with his right arm.

"Blues…! What's going on?"

"The sphere has encompassed the guy's whole body, sir!"

"Huh… Is it me of the light is dimming?"

"It is dimming, sir, and… What!"

"Heh, heh, heh."

"Huh? E~H! W-what in the…?"

The light dimmed to reveal something shocking: where Eisei had been at now a Navi-like guy was standing there.

His face's skin color had changed to a dull olive green – like coloring and a faint black and thin line drawing of an electrical current's spectrum shaped like a triangle formed on the SW and SE corners of his face and climbed past the note until they ended slightly beneath the forehead's helmet edge.

His eyes, nose and mouth were unchanged even though the eyes' irises were of a blood red color.

His hair had become orange-colored and spread out from behind the helmet in a wild flock manner reaching until the base of his neck.

The helmet's design was peculiar: it had a form seemingly made out of a spheroid's upper half and its main color was gray: the center of it had a drawing which could be interpreted as an arrow pointing downwards which also had two small triangles popping out of the sides: it seen from above and looking from north to south it could be a cutaway silhouette of a tree as well: a golden-colored plain horn formed on the middle of the drawing and aimed upwards.

The ear-pads had two parts: they began as simple gray metallic disks attached half-way between the upper helmet and the sides of the rest of the helmet: then a dome formation sprouted from there and had a small hole cut atop it.

The sides of the helmet included two slightly curved triangles colored orange spanning past the lower jaw by a few centimeters.

His neck was protected by circular gray bands stacked one atop the other with a total of three plus a wider circle at the base of the neck.

Regarding the chest armor, it could be described as simplistic: the color of choice was gray again and the only noticeable things on it were two cavities cut on the center of it shaped after diamonds: they were red on the inside and there was a very thin black line cutting through them spanning half-way across the chest.

His arms were covered by a peculiar golden armor which seemed to reinforce their strength: each shoulder had a soup bowl – like shape along with the cover set over it: a golden horn spread from the center of the cover.

The armor then continued with a slight division drawn half-way the arm located between the shoulder and the elbow: the elbow segment happened to have a circular piece from which a curved fin aiming towards the shoulder emerged: this elbow armor could be divided in four different segments: the first one was a little piece of golden armor in the form of a circle's lower half.

It was continued by a set of three half-circular metallic bands spreading downwards until the start of the wrist.

A screw bolt's head was set half-way between the lower and upper halves of the elbow armor: a black cross was drawn on it (or rather the grooves where a screw driver would be set at) and a straight black line travelled forward from the eastern edge until the wrist.

The last part of the complicated elbow armor included the aforementioned fin.

A small segment of golden armor covered the little space between the elbow and the wrist.

The wrist and part of the hand were encompassed by one featureless metallic black circle from which his usual five fingers (covered in golden "skin") came out.

The body below the chest armor was rather plain: a central vertical stripe which contained the helmet's pattern towards the end as it reached the waist spot: it was painted gray expect on the outer edges where the color switched to purple and ran down the sides of the body including the inner surface of the legs: the outer surface was colored gray too.

His peculiar boots began just at the knee's height and had a customized design which looked like some attempt at being "futuristic" for some reason or another: their color was gray.

The reason why his boots looked peculiar was because they had a descending triangle-shaped ramp running until the ankles and with three golden buttons set in a vertical manner one atop the other near the end of the piece.

The ankles' armor was built in the manner of three purple trapezes set one over the other: the soil of the boots was also designed to have a trapeze form and painted gray.

There was something which looked a recent addition, though, and that was an emblem on the forehead which was the same depicted in Eisei's own Link PET.

"W-who the…?" Enzan finally managed to ask.

"Gray Thunderbolt." He announced.

"W-what?"

"This cool thing is named "Denpa – Henkan". Basically speaking… My organic body gets digitized thanks to a program. It's not unlike the "Cross Fusion" thing those Golden Star guys came up with. But the difference is that I ain't in need of a Net Navi to do that. I can do it on my own and whenever I wish. Oh. And I also can come into the Cyber World when I feel like it: I'm the one the Golden Star guys "felt" around the district: guess I haunt their minds." He laughed.

"Denpa – Henkan…!"

"Ah! And as you can see I'm not dependant of those "Dimensional Areas" to begin with. So I've total freedom of movements: I can also warp around and project a hologram at the same time… See!"

He formed some kind of "black hole" the edges of which rippled through the air and seemed to distort it before he vanished and one computer turned on: another "black hole" formed behind Enzan and Gray Thunderbolt emerged from it having drawn a yellow blade without hilt on his right arm which he drove through Enzan from behind but it turned out to be a hologram: Enzan turned white and his jaw hit the floor as if he'd been pierce from behind: Gray Thunderbolt vanished again and a giggle rang out from the computer.

"You smell of Laika's cheap deodorant."

"Wha~t?" He growled.

"I know he's fucked ya already."

"Damn it."

"But I couldn't care less."

"Phew."

"Come and bite me if you can, Hound of Densanville!"

"GRFJTX! Plug In! Blues, Transmission!"

Blues entered the Cyber World which had been redesigned into what looked like an installation's corridors where alarms were constantly ringing out: the sound of weapons at some distance could be heard and some bloody human corpses were spread across the ground along with spent ammunition: some tall alien corpses with bluish/greenish blood and odd weapons were also scattered around the ground too.

"Welcome to the _UNSC Pillar of Autumn _currently in landing approach to Installation 04, Mr. Anderson."

"What the hell is this?"

"A Covenant boarding party. Ask Meijin – sama for the details. I can't wait for the remake of this game to come out this fall. It'll be cool to see how they improve them." He laughed.

"Enough tricks! Fight!"

"Ever played _Pocket Monsters_?"

"Why?"

"Ever heard of Pikachu's most famous attack?"

"Huh… "100,000 Volts"…?" Enzan recalled.

"Yessir. Gray Thunder!"

He suddenly clasped both hands together and his fingers became barrels: electricity travelled down the golden arms and accumulated in the form of an spheroid which he shot into the air to then start making thunderbolts rain down around Blues surrounding him and one bigger thunderbolt hit him and he roared: he collapsed on his fours and panted as Gray Thunderbolt formed a psycho-like face.

"Impossible! One attack and Blues has lost HALF of his 2800 HP? What kind of attack was that?"

"My best shot. But don't worry. I've got plenty more stuff. Elec Sword: let's go, Blues – chan!"

"Shaddup!"

"I've got 2500 HP myself. Let's see if you are made of air or not to begin with, my fellow rebel." He joked.

"Shaddup! Long Blade, Wide Blade!"

"Cheap. Grunt's Plasma Gun! Elec Sword!"

He drew the "Elec Sword" on the right hand to block Blues' incoming attack and then formed a gun on his right hand which had a rather peculiar design: it basically was the upper half of a circle with a grip protruding out of the southern end and then having a curved magazine-like object connecting to another piece having a shorter length and a curved form: the front end had some kind of thin pillar made of energy: the gun had no obvious muzzle.

"Eat this!"

He charged up greenish plasma and shot it at Blues as he tried to deflect it with the Wide Blade which melted: Gray Thunderbolt wasted no time in bombarding him with a barrage of plasma rounds before jumping down from atop the crates he'd been standing at and suddenly dropping the gun to pick up a sword of some kind having a cylindrical handle and two slope-shaped blades made of heated up plasma aiming forward and running parallel to each other: Blues tried to use his Long Blade but it got split in half and a burning wound was opened on Blues' body: he growled and stepped back.

"Damn. I lost 400 HP! These things are overpowered!" Blues growled as he tried to ignore the pain of the wound.

"Well yeah. They're Covenant weapons after all."

"Fight like a man!" Blues challenged.

"Well… Bring it on." He challenged as he discarded the weapon into the heap of other weapons.

"Sword, Wide Sword, Long Sword! Program Advance! Dream Sword! GO~!"

"Slow."

Blues tried to hit Gray Thunderbolt with the Dream Sword but he'd fused his arms again and charged up the spheroid of energy which flew upwards and this time made nine thunderbolts rain down on Blues bringing him to his fours again.

"Fuck! I'm left at my last 100 HP!" He cursed.

"Heh! Guess you're really outdated then. This is turning boring so I'm gonna go challenge Golden Star next. See ya… Grah!"

Gray Thunderbolt had turned around to leave but Blues suddenly shot a Tank Cannon's blast at him from behind: before he could recover, though, a newly formed Dream Sword impacted on him: Blues suddenly drew the three-prong Muramasa Blade and attacked with each of them at the same time as they shone with reddish energy: Gray Thunderbolt roared from the wounds opened in his body and warped to some meters down the corridor while panting and looking at his bodily wounds.

"D-damn… I pushed him and he got desperate… And I got cocky myself, really… The Muramasa Blade…! What power…! _Aibou_ was right on being wary about it!" He cursed.

"Hmpf! With this I've lowered your HP to around the 250 HP mark: now who's in charge?" Blues challenged.

"Crap. They've gone "Full Synchro"…" He grumbled.

"Fight!"

"Che! I won't lose so easily! Rocket Knuckle!"

He formed a copy of his forearm which incorporated a rocket and it began to orbit around Blues but he swung his blades around at a maddening speed and tore it into several fragments: Gray Thunderbolt tried to drop down from above but at that moment Blues looked up and began to attack at him: he kicked him into the floor and landed atop him while aiming the swords at his neck.

"Gonna delete me?"

"No, but that's because of my Navi program. No matter what form you lowlife take you lowlife are still a human. Navis can't harm humans directly or indirectly and you lowlife are fortunate enough to fall into that category." He grumbled.

"Heh! You'll be regretting this… But anyway it'd been bad publicity for you Cyber CID guys and Uncle Merton."

"Someone called?" Oda suddenly appeared in the real world behind Enzan while having a broad smile on his face.

"Wha! How did you…?" Enzan gasped.

"That fellow sent me a mail."

"Yeah. Let Ijuuin tell you all he's found out during this debriefing while I go hunt for hounds…" He chuckled as he managed to stand up.

"Who are you lowlife?"

"The "Seraphs"…" He grinned.

"Seraphs!" Oda gasped.

"You've heard of us, eh? Well then… _No pain no gain_! _Ciao_!"

He warped again and he was gone: Enzan pressed the "Plug-Out" button while Oda looked nervous.

"The Seraphs… We're in for a world of trouble… And here I thought this was just some Moriarty wannabe…" He muttered.

"Who are those "Seraphs", Superintendent Oda?"

"I'll prepare a meeting. I've been on their trail on certain moments over the last 10 years and they always give us the slip but the few glimpses we've had of them have been terrific enough… If they're behind this then we can expect them to make us sweat a lot."

"The Seraphs…!" Blues and Enzan muttered.

"All's changed by now… Nothing will be as it was before… And I'm afraid things will turn worse than they are…!"

14:17 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Huff, huff… Grah… Man… Jeez… Shit…"

"… Gray. What happened?"

"Huh… _Aibou_. I screwed it up."

"You mean to say you were defeated?"

"By that bloody three-prong thing…"

"Didn't I tell you to be wary of it? Plenty of times too."

"I know! I got confident. My fault."

Eisei made it back inside of the throne room and Kuroban looked up from a holographic screen reporting something: he sounded slightly annoyed and like a teacher reprimanding the student as Eisei dragged his feet inside and clutched his chest while panting.

"I hope you've learned the lesson, Gray. Over-confidence leads to a quick defeat and you were rude if you turned your back to him. No, not just rude. Foolish. It's a fool's choice to ignore an opponent who can still fight and is known to have done the impossible. Didn't you spend all these months studying his strategies?" He scolded as he stood up and walked down to the ground level while leaning both fists against the sides of his body.

"I know! Man! It won't happen twice! I'm just in need of some rest and then I'll begin talent-hunting…!"

"Good. Don't push your body and rest: I'll handle the people out there with some distractions. Did you tell them our name?"

"Yeah… And mister Oda realized they were in a tight spot… He's feared these guys for over 10 years already…" He chuckled.

"Hmpf… Fine… Go rest."

Eisei nodded and came out through the doors while Kuroban stepped out into the balcony and laughed aloud in a victorious tone of voice…


	5. Chapter 5: The invincible thief

**Chapter 5: The "invincible thief"**

23:33 PM (Japan Time), Friday February the 7th…

"… Man… I should've thought it twice before accepting this job… It's so - BORING!"

A security guard patrolled across the corridors of a museum while looking bored to death as he illuminated the walls and floor with a flashlight but without behaving seriously.

"JEEZ! I prefer being in the CCTV room but I had to get the short straw and end up revising all doors and panels…" He grumbled.

"… Maybe you'd prefer a shock therapy, _Danna_?" A muffled man's voice rang out from behind him with obvious sarcasm.

"Takeda. Stop trolling me, man." He snapped to his radio.

"Huh? What? I'm checking the 3rd floor, Endo. I'm not doing anything: maybe it's Muro's handiwork?"

"MURO~!"

"Ya called?"

"STOP SCREWING ME~!"

"W-what? I was checking the 1st floor's security reports…"

"Then WHO?"

"Who what?"

"Who's kidding me?"

"No – one is, man!" Muro grumbled.

"Yeah. You were speaking aloud AGAIN." Takeda replied.

"Yeah, Roddo! Stop speaking aloud." Muro added.

"I'm going to beat you to trumps later!"

"Oi, Roddo! Check Room 101: the system is down there!"

"FINE!"

The man, Roddo, headed for a room nearby the doors of which had been opened wide and the control panel of which was frizzling and smoking as if it'd been short-circuited: he didn't seem to notice the detail and stepped inside of the largely unlit room while lazily swinging his flashlight around to check: he heard a sound from further inside.

"These guys…! Kidding around…! I'll show them…!

He headed for a figure giving him the back and examining a genuine _Sengoku Era_ _samurai_ armor exposed at the end of the room.

"MURO! Get ready!"

"No. You get ready."

The figure suddenly turned around and Roddo felt all color leave his face given how it was someone unexpected.

"W-w-who the…?"

The one in the room happened to be a figure about a meter and seventy centimeters tall but which gave off a bad vibe.

The reason was that it was cloaked in a grayish coat and suit with a high collar which reached all the way up to the nose.

The eyes were hid beneath a pair of sunglasses shining with a reddish light and a grayish simplistic hat covered the head.

The figure also sported gloves on both hands and knee-high boots like a military officer.

Its presence seemed to chill the air as well as it faced the guard: even though the guard was about eight centimeters taller he nevertheless seemed to fear this apparition.

"It couldn't be!" He gasped.

"Nap time."

"Kuwya~h!"

"Oi, Roddo! What was that? Answer back!"

"This is Takeda! What's going on?"

The figure ignored the calls over the radio as it loomed over the knocked out Roddo: it then picked the _katana_ and examined it: the robber slowly slid it across the glove and saw that it was real given how it easily and effortlessly cut through it: the figure chuckled and then drew a yellow crayon from the gray pants' left pocket: it headed over to the room's doors, closed them from the outside and then drew a yellow circle with the word "CHARON" sprawled inside of its diameter.

"Too easy. 13th consecutive triumph. Heh, heh, heh. You've had your time to shine, Dullahan, but now _I_ get my time to shine." He muttered with obvious amusement.

"Freeze!"

"Don't move!"

"Hmpf. Mere rubbish…"

Takeda and Muro had shown up at both sides of the corridor and were aiming their service revolvers at the figure: the figure, "Charon", was unimpressed.

"Yo and behold! ZAP!"

"Uha~h!"

"Muro~h!"

"Hmpf! Nothing and no – one can stand up to me… Let's get moving already: I've got another two errands to run tonight."

"Charon" opened a window and came out before closing it: he jumped down into the deserted front yard and ran off towards a corner hidden by some bushes and trees: he used one of the trees to climb over the fence and landed into the street.

"Heh, heh, heh… How funny! Truly. If you thought this was gonna be boring then you're very mistaken…"

09:14 AM (Japan Time), Saturday February the 8th…

"… _Vous êtes donc tous, n'est-ce pas, des descendants de la militaire soviétique?"_

"What?"

"Laika – sama. They asked this: "So you are all, then, descendants of the Soviet military?"…"

"Guess so!"

Sharo Army's 13th Network Unit's Laika was standing in one corridor of the Net Police HQ and looking out through the window into the clouded skies which seem to threaten a heavy snowfall: he'd been distractedly looking at the people going up and down the street when someone suddenly contacted him over the PET speaking in French: Laika frowned but when Search Man translated the message he got a twitch over his right eye which proved that he was annoyed.

"Yo. Laika. What's up?"

"Ian Torolov… Some fool is trying to laugh at me."

"Oh yeah? That's a first."

A guy had joined him coming up the stairs: he was a young man around sixteen years old who appealed to be one or two inches shorter in height than Laika.

He had brownish hair combed in a neat manner and brownish irises as well: his face profile indicated a calm state.

He simply wore the same Sharo Army uniform Laika did.

"_Bon. Eh bien! Moi, je susis le descendant de General Charles de Gaulle, qui tua jadis les espions Soviétiques en combat. Et il y a des moments…"_ The voice continued.

"… "Good. Well then! I myself happen to be the descendant of General Charles de Gaulle who killed the Soviet spies in battle. And there times in which…"… What?"" Search Man translated.

"He's nuts."

"…_Où je sens remonter en moi les instincts belliqueux de mon aïeul! Au large, pirates d'eau douce!"_

"… "In which I feel my ancestor's battling instincts rise up! Flee, you rookie pirates!" … WHAT? How dare you!" Search Man growled.

"That's a first too." Torolov muttered.

"Are you on that guy's side or WHAT, Torolov?"

"Oi! Calm down, Laika!"

"_La vie en turquoise, monsieur_ Laika?"

"… "Turquoise life, Mr. Laika?"…"

"Turquoise? He's making a joke on my hair color!"

"Hum. I see."

"You shut up." Laika hissed.

"That's why I said you should calm down."

"_Et viola vos archives, flibustiers de carnaval!"_

"… "Here are you files, you Carnival filibusters!"… Ah, the rascal! I'd blow them up if I could." Search Man was annoyed by now as evidenced by the twitch over his right eye.

"Speaking of the Carnival, there the one in Rio de Janeiro by the end of this month…" Torolov muttered.

"Don't give them ideas."

"_Espèce de Bachi – bouzouk!"_

"You Bashi-bazouk! A "Bashi-bazouk" was a mercenary soldier of the Ottoman Empire…"

"He's DEGRADING ME?" Laika roared.

"No good." Torolov drily muttered.

"I demand a name!" Laika told the caller.

"_Je vous demande votre nom!"_ The caller countered.

"… "I demand to know your name!"… That's our motto, you damned rascal!"

"_VOTRE NOM!"_

The voice was so strong that Laika's hair flied backwards because of it and Torolov merely lifted his eyebrows.

"That's what I'm asking you!" Laika shot back.

"But that's what I'm asking you, Laika – kun! Who is the new leader of Choina?" The caller suddenly asked while switching to Japanese with a slight foreign accent.

"Hu Jintao!" Laika replied.

"You want coffee?"

"No! I don't!" Laika replied.

"You want _Obscure Coffee with a hint of heat_, then?" The caller asked next.

"Such a thing doesn't exist." Laika countered.

"That's what you believe. _Monsieur le Homme Obscurité_ invented it and has patented it. Maybe Ferran Adrià will beg of him to tell him the recipe to incorporate it into El Bulli's menu."

"Mr. Man of Obscurity? Ah! You mean Dark Man!" Search Man realized.

"This guy is a member of Golden Star, then!"

"Game Over, Yeah!" The voice sounded triumphal.

"What game over?" Laika asked.

"_Vous êtes peut-être sourd, mille sabords! Mais vous n'êtes sûrement pas aveugle, hein!"_ The caller grumbled.

"What now?"

"… "You may be quite deaf, blistering barnacles! But you surely aren't short-sighted either, eh!"…"

"I'm not deaf and I'm not short-sighted."

"Then _Rompetechos_ is."

"Who?"

"Heh, heh, heh. Look it up on Goggle, Mr. Anderson. Welcome to the party, my dear."

"You bastard…!"

"Ops. Trouble." Torolov muttered while sighing.

"VOTRE APPAREIL NE NOUS INTERESSE PAS!"

"… "We are not interested in your machine!"... What machine? Our ICBMs or what?"

"_Nous allons sauter! Ill y a une machine infernale dans la cale!"_

"… "We've been sabotaged! There's a bomb in the cargo bay!"… What cargo bay? Are you in a ship or a plane?"

"_Je susis descendu à la cale pour y ouvir une caisse de cognac. Au lieu de cognac, j'yai trouvé una machine infernale!" _

"… "I descended into the cargo bay to open a box of _cognac_. But instead of _cognac_ I stumbled upon a bomb!"… _Cognac_?"

"Maybe he's old-fashioned?" Torolov wondered.

"_Nous y sommes… Attention! C'est ici… regardez…_ _Attention! N'approchez pas!"_

"… "Here it is… Careful! Over there… Look… Careful! Don't come any closer!"… Come closer to WHAT? The bomb?"

"_Au contraire, il faut savoir à quoi s'entenir_."

"… "On the contrary: it's best to figure out what it is about." … Well, I can't say it's a crazy thing to do but…"

"_Eh bien?"_

"… "Well?"... Don't ask me." Search Man fumed.

"_Des tôles!"_

"_Des tôles?"_

"… "Steel plates!" … "Steel plates?"… So it wasn't a bomb but steel plates stuffed into a box?"

"How odd." Laika frowned.

"_Vous avez raison, ma parole! Mais alors, ce n'est pas une machine infernale?"_

"… "By all the… You're right! But then… It ain't a bomb?" … No, I guess it isn't."

"_Sûrement pas. Voyons, ouvrons une autre caisse…" _

"… "Surely not. See, let's open another box…"… And you found the _cognac_ in that other box?"

"_Encore des tôles, mille sabords!"_

"… "Steel plates again! Blistering barnacles!"… Guess not."

"_Et dans celle-ci…"_

"… "And over here"… More steel plates?"

"_Encore des tôles!" _

"… "Steel plates again!"… I got it right this time, huh."

"_Enfer et damnation! Ill n'ya plus une goutte de cognac à bord de le Purgatoire! Ah! Si je tenais le misérable qui nous a joué ce tour, il passerait un mauais quart d'heure!_"

"… "Hell and damnation! There isn't a single drop of _cognac_ aboard the _Purgatory_. Ah! If I found the rascal who staged this game then they're gonna spend a sour quarter of an hour!"… Whatever." Search Man was unimpressed.

"_Je m'en vais vous fourrer à fond de cale, au pain sec et à l'eau, pendant tout le restre du voyage!"_ The soft – like voice hissed.

"… "I'm going to lock you on the cargo bay! And you'll only have dry bread and water for the rest of the trip!"… Threatening us?"

"Bring it on." Laika hissed.

"Crap."

"_Que se passe-t-il, là haut?"_

"… "What's going on up there?"… Where's "up there" to begin with? You rascal!"

"_Ça y est! Nous voilà dèbarrassés de cette bande d'escrocs!"_

"… "Alright! We've gotten rid of that band of crooks!"… Crooks? You're calling us crooks?"

"Yeah. I am. You threatened a whole nation's systems and almost killed an elementary student because you were so idiotic that you couldn't tell black and white apart years ago."

"W-what?" Laika gasped.

"That rings a bell somewhere." Torolov muttered.

"I've got you marked, Laika."

"Wait a min, you! Speaking French… You gotta be VP _Noir_!"

"And what if? Will that make you feel like you've won? Like you're above me? Like you're superior to me?" He shot back.

"That's…"

"HMPF! Because of you… I now feel… RABIDLY! OVERWHELMINGLY! VEHEMENTLY DISGUSTED!" He roared over the line.

It suddenly went dead, leaving Laika taken aback and Torolov closing his right hand around the chin.

"This is turning weird."

09:28 AM (Japan Time)…

"… This is the DNN hourly bulletin: the subject known as the "Invincible Thief", Charon, has made a move yet again. It "visited" five museums scattered across Honshu, Kyushu and Hokkaido as well as one in the Okinawa Islands. The police admit being overwhelmed with his random and not-predictable appearances… Next is…"

"That's the only thing I wanted to hear. Off you go."

Saito took the earphones out of his ears once he entered the Net Police HQ lobby along with Netto and he turned off the radio application of his Link PET (colored green and white) before placing it on the arm-strap and then looking at Netto.

"Hey. Netto. "Charon" strikes back." Saito told him.

"So? What's the list?"

"Well… The list goes like this: a _Sengoku samurai katana_, a canvas by a popular artist, an ancient Buddhist scroll dated about 17th century, a _shogun_'s tunic and, finally, Jomon period ceramics."

"That's some list."

"Yeah. Anyway. Let's get to the meeting which starts in 10 minutes' time from now…" Saito shrugged.

They stepped into the elevator and climbed to the 3rd floor: Netto nervously looked around but insofar the corridor was deserted except for Laika and Torolov: they seemed to be arguing and didn't notice them walking towards them.

"…some conspiracy staged by those guys and…"

"Laika, Laika… Calm down, man. You're starting to sound like it was the 60s." Torolov told him with a sigh.

"But those guys aren't…"

"…trustable, I've heard that a million times by now. Be rational, Laika, or HQ is gonna frown at your behavior."

"Che. Uncle…" He grumbled.

"Hmmm? Ah. Hikari brothers… Hi again."

"Hi, Torolov – san."

"Oh come on. Just call me "Torolov" and we're at peace. It makes me feel old."

"Oh! I agree with that." Meijin suddenly joined them by coming down the stairs as he took sips of a plastic cup having coffee on it.

"… Hikari Netto." Laika directed a hostile glare at him.

"What?"

"What's Kage doing?"

"Kage? Ah, Miquel, you mean. Well. Dunno. I haven't seen him ever since a month ago." He shrugged.

"What is he plotting?"

"I'd rather ask "what's "Charon" plotting?" instead." Saito calmly suggested without being surprised.

"Yeah. Don't you feel like that murder streak by that "Dullahan" robot is far more important, Laika?" Torolov asked.

"Hmpf…" He grumbled.

"Ahem, ahem. Laika – kun. Do you have a problem with Hikari – kun and his former classmate?" Oda showed up behind him and cleared his throat to indicate he wasn't amused in the least.

"Ah! Eh… No, sir. I just got paranoid, sir, because _Noir_ contacted me and began to laugh at me, sir, and also criticize me, so…"

"This is Japan." He reminded him.

"Eh… Yes, sir. True, sir."

"And you have committed some serious flaws: I thought as much back then when our first encounter." He warned.

"I s-see, sir. Should we… start the meeting?"

"Yes. We've got some bad news."

"Understood, sir…"

Oda signaled for Laika to follow him and he did so into the room: he sat on one of the chairs around the table: Obihiro, Enzan and Yuuichirou were already there along with another man.

"Chief Sorodo Tantokan." Superintendent Oda announced.

Chief Sorodo Tantokan happened to be a man on his late forties or early fifties who had blackish hair and whose face was clearly shaven yet he had a sharp profile to it as if indicating he was like a restrained force which could sweep through everything: his eyes' irises were brown.

He wore a simple black suit over a shirt, a bluish tie, pants and shoes and appealed to be around a meter and eighty tall.

"Good morning. Have a seat." He merely told them.

Everyoned picked a seat and Oda sighed as if he something was troubling him: he looked at Enzan who nodded and cleared his throat to begin an exposition.

"We had some important developments yesterday."

"Is that so?" Yuuichirou asked.

"We established the enemy's identity as well as discovering a new technology altogether."

"New technology?" Yuuichirou was picked.

"_Denpa – Henkan_ is the name… A process to digitalize a human's body in a manner akin to "Cross Fusion" but being a stand-alone system because there's no need for a Net Navi… The user was the caller of a few days ago, the man named "Gray"… Gray Thunderbolt is his name when transformed but his civilian name is Eisei Aaron. A member of the "Seraphs"…"

"The "Seraphs"!" Chief Sorodo gasped.

"You know of them, too, sir?" Oda asked.

"Indeed. Do you remember the incident back in October of that murdered Diet security staff member? It was their work."

"Ah! It was one of them?" Laika asked.

"A pawn, yes. But he didn't know much except that they wanted to have all details on number of security staff, security systems, codes, alarms, intruder detection systems and such… He was supposed to slowly sabotage most of them when a "D-Day" arrived at some unspecified moment… But he didn't know much about the organization who was using his post…" He detailed.

"…"D-Day"…!" Obihiro grimly muttered.

"Yes. My colleagues at the KCK told me they suspect they're intending some coup in which the Emperor would be given real authority and try to revert to a political climate like in the 1920s and 30s."

"No good." Torolov grimly muttered next.

"Truly. But he was murdered in his house and the word "RACHE" was left written with his blood on the wall: he'd been stuck there with a _katana_ and looked like they'd tortured him too…"

"Rache… "Revenge" in German…" Search Man translated.

"But that was a blind alley: a ruse to try to lead us into a cul-de-sac. We've had glimpses there and there of their influences but they have a vast amount of ghost companies plus proxy agents who are attached to those ghost companies and thus don't know who they really are they working for to begin with. This international organization seems to have been around for about 50 years already…"

"50 years!" Netto whistled in surprise.

"In my experience… All my encounters with proxy companies or agents of the "Seraphs" have shown me they are ruthless people who'll stop at nothing to try to force nations into an arms race and then try to erect itself as some New World Order sect…" Oda sighed.

"They gotta be mad." Saito grumbled.

"Yes. That's the problem. They're mad." Oda confirmed.

"Fuck. We're screwed." Punk cursed.

"Watch your words!" Meijin scolded.

"So… What can we do?" Laika asked with a hint of defeatism.

"For the time being… Try to hope we can get a solid thread regarding their activities…" Oda sounded defeated.

"By the way, Ijuuin – kun… Can you describe that process you spoke of a few minutes ago?" Yuuichirou requested.

"I happened to record it… I'll show it to you, sir."

He played the recording and everyone was quickly taken in: Meijin lifted his eyebrows upon seeing the scenery and his weapons but made no comment: everyone looked angst upon seeing Blues' narrow escape and then were awed at his quick and vengeful counter-attack which drove the guy to his limits.

"_Halo_, huh. I've played all the games insofar. Basically speaking it's just a shooter with aliens as enemies but they managed to come up with a good story which now has expanded with prequels, novels, comic books, animations and other material. It's growing in scale and they are a huge success because they bring new rules to the shooters." Meijin summed up in a few words.

"Cool." Netto muttered.

"By the way! I would like to complain about Golden Star's behavior: _Noir_ contacted me and laughed at me." Laika brought up.

"And?" Chief Sorodo asked.

The question seemed to warn to Laika that the act itself wasn't a crime and combined with an annoyed glare from Oda he looked like he was losing the annoyed mood and was apparently thinking it'd be wiser not to bring it up.

"… Nothing, sir. I am over-reacting, sir." He gulped.

"It's not a crime to joke around or to criticize an institution. It's called "freedom of speech" to begin with and it's a right recognized by the Constitution as well as backed up by the UN."

"I understand, sir… I am being paranoid, sir."

"Good. Like it or not Golden Star is a key piece of the current stability and most citizens would like things to remain as they are."

"Roger, sir…"

"Anyone wants to add anything else?"

"No, sir."

"Well then. This meeting is over. I'll inform my colleagues: we need to start hunting for threads. Hikari – kun."

"Me, sir?" Netto asked.

"Yes… Hum… How should I tell you apart?"

"Eh… Maybe "Jr." and "Sr." would do, sir?" Saito suggested.

"Good enough. Well then… Hikari Jr. – kun. If you can establish a contact with Golden Star tell them of this. We'd like of them to look into the matter as well."

"Roger, sir."

Torolov made a discreet warning sign to Laika and he came out of the room after Chief Sorodo did while Netto looked up: a faint glint of annoyance could be detected in his eyes for a second but he quickly looked out of the window and put on a bored face.

"Guess it's gonna snow." He merely muttered.

"Snow Man is going to snow us all." Oda tried to cheer the air up with one of his puns.

"Not again…" Everyone groaned.

11:21 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Fuck! Fucking old man…! I can't stand it anymore! I'm fed up with that guy's empty head! Lawyer, lawyer, LAWYER…! That's not what I want to do with my life! I wanna be a telecommunications guy! Telecommunications are the future! Shaping how you're going to design a building's TV and radio systems… It's practical! And look at yourself to begin with, old man! You yourself are but a bureaucrat! But you surely want some complicity 'cause you're playing with the money and if you're found out you think I can get ya outta the pinch… Fuck!"

"Wanna be free, man?"

"Huh? Don't just show up where they don't want you, dude."

"Netsuhonoo Robin. I can give you freedom and power. Are you going to let an once-in-a-lifetime chance slip you by?"

"What! How do you know my name?"

"I know a lot. I've been researching on your background and it fits with my mission as recruiting agent…"

"Recruiting agent for WHAT? Some Latin gang?"

"Nope! Something greater and more serious…"

A guy on his late teens (maybe 18 or 19 years old) had been standing in the corner of a public garden somewhere and punching and kicking a tree as if to discharge his bad mood while cursing aloud.

His height appealed to be around the 175cm mark and his body had an athletic look to it.

His hair had been dyed fire red and his eyes' irises were brown: he currently looked surprised as reflected on his smooth face.

His choice of clothes were a red opened sleeveless vest over a black t-shirt with the drawing of a crimson or scarlet – colored flame on its center surrounded by spiraling smoke trails: his jeans were plain and normal and his socks were simple black wool ones: his sneakers' color was white.

Eisei had shown up from behind him while having his sunglasses on and looking slightly amused: Netsuhonoo Robin began to talk with him while sounding skeptical but Eisei was calm and collected.

"Look. I'll make it simple. I work for a powerful man. He wishes to form an "Elite Unit" of guys using a new revolutionary tech… There's only me for the time being but guys like you who need somewhere else to go to and want to cut all ties with your life are the type he's interested into. You'd only have to show up when he calls for you and the rest of the time you would be able to do whatever suits you. One thing though: we're not here to fulfill petty desires. Our power is not to use as personal payback: it's for the _Danna_'s sake." He told him.

"Hmmm… You're being too vague."

"Alright. I'll tell you this: _Danna_ is the commander of both "Dullahan" and "Charon" and they work for us."

"What! Then… What's that "Dullahan" thing which showed up all over the blogs recently?"

"A robot with a Net Navi inside of it…"

"Oh, a robot! I see…! Yet… You could be making this up."

As a response, Eisei activated a display on his Link PET which showed him the "Denpa – Henkan" process as witnessed by Enzan: the video had obviously been hacked out of Enan's PET given how it was the same he'd shown a while ago.

"That guy…! Ijuuin Enzan! The Net Police's Cyber CID best man: one of the "heroes" who fought against "evil" years ago…! The "Muramasa Blade", the cursed blade…!" He gasped.

"Convinced? Do you think Ijuuin Enzan's presence and such can be faked like that? Or such a battle? There's only one Net Navi in the whole world holding that sword and very few people know it can do that three-prong splitting thing." He whispered.

"… I'm convinced. If you survived against the mighty Blues then…"

"Then?"

"I'm in."

"Good. With some luck you'll get to see some cool guys and maybe have a showdown with them… Golden Star…"

"Whoa! THE Golden Star…!"

"Yeah… They'll be drawn into the picture in an inexorable manner and we'll have to face them too…" He whispered.

"Cool. I'm convinced by now."

"Good. Follow me and we'll get to _Danna_'s place. One thing, though: he's a high-class man so try to show some manners or you won't get anywhere at all. But you'll be interacting with me 90% of the time so…"

"O. K."

Netsuhonoo followed Eisei into the gardener's hut the lock of which had been picked: Eisei closed the door and inputted some commands into the Link PET to open a channel.

"Code." Someone commanded.

"Let the Sky God bless us with sun and rain when the Land is in need of it and thus bring life and hope to the Kingdom. Keziee, the grand dragon of purple scales and great wings with the drawings of the tornadoes on Its body, shall see to it. Along with Its Brethren, Their Graces, the "Four Heavenly Kings", shall protect us." He chanted.

"Good. So?"

"I found a guy who fits the criteria. It took some convincing but my record convinced him we're serious."

"Fine. I'm turning on the device. Over."

"That was the _Danna_? Is he a magic _manga_ fan?"

Eisei didn't reply because a sound rang out at that moment and both were suddenly warped out of the cabin as if by magic…

11:30 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Huh? What happened? Where are we?"

"Don't fret."

Eisei and Netsuhonoo appeared in a corridor the walls and floor of which were covered with marble panels and the ceiling was built using mahogany: two chandeliers hung from it and there was a red carpet extending across the corridor's length: some windows with blue silk curtains had been placed on the right side of it and allowed views of the sea while the end of the corridor had a turn yet directly in front of them there were two mahogany doors leading somewhere.

"What's this thing?"

"Oh, that. A "Dimensional Converter"…"

"What?"

Netsuhonoo was looking at a machine standing close by: it was a blue cylinder with circuitry boards placed inside of them and surrounded by bluish glass coupled with two white caps at the end: the thing was about two meters tall or close to it and was currently standing behind them and in the midst of the corridor while emerging from what looked like a yellow energy "field" on the ground: the "Seraphs" logo had been placed on its central spot in the form of a sticker.

"Whoa. Now I'm convinced even more than before."

"Alright, dude. We're gonna meet _Danna_. You gotta bow to him and such 'cause he's a Prince. I'll tell you the tale later. Just watch your manners, look at him, speak honestly and don't doubt. Alright?" Eisei whispered to him.

"Gotcha."

"I'll insist: he has an overwhelming and commanding presence. Don't be intimidated. Use honorifics and the best speech you know: he's the type to question your very values too so don't be too surprised and answer in an honest manner. Let's go."

"Y-yeah…"

Eisei knocked on the doors and they opened so they came inside of the room and quickly turned left to face Kuroban, who looked up from a book titled "Ancient Tribes in South-West Asia" and closed it after placing a pointer to remember the page: he left it on the right armrest and climbed down the steps: he made a gesture and Netsuhonoo quickly descended into his knees while looking up to him.

"Name?"

"Netsuhonoo Robin, sir."

"Do you know why you are here?"

"I have been offered power in exchange for loyalty, sir."

"Good answer. Is there someone you despise?"

"My step-father, sir…"

"If you had power, would you use it on that man?"

"No, sir. It'd be selfish, sir. No, sir. I'd rather use my own intelligence and find a way to strike back with my own strength, sir. That power is for your sake, sir, and only yours, sir."

"I read truth in you… And there is awe and respect too. Good. That's the kind of man I was looking for. Gray. Show him the ropes. You know the arrangements." Kuroban looked up.

"Roger. Come."

"G-goodbye, my Lord."

Netsuhonoo made a reverence and then followed Eisei out of the room while Kuroban rubbed his chin with the right hand.

"Yeah… As calculated… My "Elite Unit" is starting to take shape and I don't mind if we only get a total of five or six in the end… Elites are few and select, just like the SPARTAN-II super-soldiers…"

He chuckled under his breath and formed a creepy grin…


	6. Chapter 6: Law and order

**Chapter 6: Law and order**

08:24 AM (Japan Time), Sunday January the 9th…

"… Over here! My brethren!"

"There!"

"That's it!"

"The damned device!"

"The damned cops' ace-in-the-hole!"

A gang of six Heel Navis walked into a rock platform floating idle within the vast space of the Reverse Internet and one of them signaled a device: a white-colored prism barely a meter and a half tall was set there: the device had some grooves drawn across its height and it shone with a soft intermittent light.

"See that gizmo, brethren? That's the damned cops' tool to try to keep us out of our promised lands!"

"Fuck 'em!"

"Screw 'em!"

"Burn 'em!"

"Hang 'em!"

"Smash 'em!"

"Of course! That's why we came 'ere: let's blow it up and free our land from the damned cops' tools! Go! Nyara~h!"

They all drew Cannon Battle Chips and began to shot the device but all attacks bounced off and left no mark or wound at all: they quickly tried Sword Battle Chips next but their blades shattered on impact: they growled in annoyance.

"You herd of fools. You dare to defy law and order?" A voice boomed out all around them: it was coming from nowhere in particular.

"W-who…?"

"Look up."

"YIKES!"

They all looked up and stepped back in fear because a Net Navi had appeared in the air: this newcomer could easily be over a meter and eighty tall.

Its helmet design didn't look like a helmet to begin with: the forehead was covered by a diamond-shaped green-colored piece of armor from which two tall and white "antennae" emerged in a 45º inclination: something which looked like a mass of hair colored green formed behind the helmet and expanded downwards in a cone-like manner.

The face's skin was normal and the shape was rather feminine yet a bit androgynous at the same time: the Navi's eye irises were red in color.

Its upper body had a white cloth similar to a sweater with three parallel stripes set on its surface running down its length until it ended half-way across the torso.

The shoulders had greenish four-speared stars built into them and two large white sleeves which extended way past the total length of the arms extended from there: they looked thick and like they had some extra mass inside: they formed shapes reminiscent of the Alphabet "L" character.

The hands emerged from two oval-shaped cavities just where the sleeves formed a 45º turn to aim SW and SE: they were covered in white "gloves" or "skin" and were currently closed.

The rest of the body was colored green and looked like a one-piece suit extending until the middle half of the upper body: two greenish/yellowish stripes ran down the sides of the torso until the hips.

Two greenish/yellowish diamonds were drawn around the knees followed by oval-shaped patterns which ended in a triangle on the ankle: the Navi didn't have the typical boots and the legs ended like they were pants which were larger than usual.

Some light radiated from the Navi's silhouette and made them stand out while emitting a powerful sensation: their gaze was calm and didn't display any emotion at all.

"My name is Slur. I am one of Golden Star. You herd of fools are trying to defy reality. Thus you shall be punished."

"G-Golden Star…! No way! Oi, Boss! Ya said it was the cops' handiwork, didn't ya?"

"I t-thought so!"

"You "thought"? Ya should've researched it better!"

"Hmpf… Bickering amongst them… Whatever. But you need a lesson to learn that you cannot roam across these lands anymore without permit: they belong to society and not those who destroy it. Be swallowed by its infinite depths." She looked unimpressed.

"O-oi! Boss! Let's scram! I've got a bad feelin' 'bout this!"

"Y-yeah! Let's run!"

"Useless."

Slur extended her right arm and drew a red circle in the air which grew in thickness until energy began to come out from the reverse face of the two-dimensional object: it fell down in the form of a column and cut a slice of the terrain (the one the six Navis were standing into) off the main platform while the energy vanished as quickly as it had formed: the piece of rock fell down carrying the Navis with it who roared as it vanished past eyesight: Slur kept on being unimpressed and she then glanced at the device as if to make sure it wasn't harmed.

"Zero." She summoned.

"You called, Boss?"

"Technical inspection of Node #R33." She merely commanded with a shrug of the shoulders.

"Roger that, Boss. On the double."

A new Navi came in next to the device and this one was a very different tale indeed.

His main body color was crimson red and his height was about the meter and eighty mark, close if not identical to Slur's own height: his design was rather curious.

To begin with, his head had a large sapphire-colored dome encompassing it as seen from above: some kind of partial facial protection was built on the front: it was a pair of equally reddish "wings" extending NW and NE followed by two thin parallel fang-like ends running down the sides of the face: where the ear-pads would be at, a gray-colored "∅" symbol over a black background was drawn.

His eyes didn't have pupils to them and their irises were a threatening yellowish color: his face's "skin" was metallic in color and he did have a small nose yet his mouth was but a line drawn across it forming a trapeze in the center of the face: it didn't look like it could open and the "breathing" sound was emitted from inside of it.

His upper body had partial chest armor colored red over his blackened "skin" and looked more like a vest than armor: there was an inverted trapeze-shaped opening exposing the base of the neck and the center of the upper chest followed by two round openings in the middle of the chest: the armor ended by drawing a trapeze on its lower edge exposing the "skin" of the waistline: it did form a curve to protect the sides and read parts of the neck too with three small horizontal slits set in a column on the front parts of the neck protection.

The armor over his shoulders appealed as being knives while seen from the front: they had a thin metallic outer edge and the main color on them was red: they were thick and looked strong.

His arms' skin was black in color too while his hands were covered in the usual white "latex" most Navis had: two armlets were attached over the section of his arms extending from the elbows to the top of his hands: each one had a mainly cylindrical form with red and black armor: the black armor was built of a stripped cylinder with the red armor over it.

Two circular bands kept it on place looping around the elbow and the wrist: the upper part had a diamond-shaped piece over the elbow plus a small sapphire over his hands.

There was a gap around the stomach area which was unshielded in the form of a cross: a pair of white "pants" began on the lower part of that gap and extended until the knees: these "pants" didn't cover the outwards-facing sides of his legs.

His knees had diamond-shaped pieces of armor with a thin vertical stripe across their center protecting them before the boots began: they were rather plain except for a set of three black bands slightly over the ankles of each foot: the thin soils of the boots were also colored black.

Last of all he had a mass of blonde hair spreading from behind his helmet and stopping inches from his ground: this hair spread open as a cape and ended in six pyramidal gaps between each end.

Overall, the Navi looked tall, threatening, and unique.

"Good. Make sure it can continue on functioning in a proper manner and that all of its sensors are set correctly enough. I shall be returning to the HQ." Slur ordered.

"Aye, aye, Boss."

"What did that mean, by the way?"

"Huh? Ah! Well. Sailor's dialect… It's their way of saying "Roger" so I picked it up…"

"No problem then. Later."

"Later, Boss."

Slur "flew" upwards without having to do any visible movement and a purplish-colored "gateway" formed in the sky into which she entered before it closed: the Navi named Zero crouched and began to examine the device using a holographic screen.

"And jumping goes Jumping Man…" He whistled a tune.

08:28 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Shit. That woman's sure strong…"

"Not just "strong"… She's the Big Boss. You don't wanna show up anywhere near her."

"But the others…?"

"The others? Don't worry! They may be strong but they're not invincible either: those guys are our preys… Raging Flame."

"Okay, Gray."

Gray Thunderbolt was speaking with another Denpa – Henkan user while taking cover behind a big rock some meters away from the spot Slur had shown up at.

"Heh. Raging Flame over 'ere will smash 'em all."

Raging Flame's helmet only protected the front and sides of his head given how his hair freely flew out from behind him: transparent red shades covered his eyes.

The helmet's forehead included a large metallic horn and two yellow shapes near the outer edges shaped like the Alphabet "M" character which were glowing with a faint yellowish light.

There was a metallic edge running across the forehead and along the length of the sides together with the ear-pads which had the drawing of the "honoo" or "Flame" _kanji_ in orange color set against a black background.

His chest armor appeared to be pretty thick stuff and had four diagonal-oriented grayish diamonds built into it: the Alphabet letters "RF" colored yellow had been drawn on the center.

The shoulder armor was thick as well: there was a round yellowish band circling the shoulder joint and from there reddish armor extended to protect the whole shoulder: it ended with three short metallic claws set on the edge of a valley-like opening.

There was a bit of exposed arm covered by black "skin" before the forearms' armor (starting at the elbows) began.

The forearms' armor started with a circle protecting the elbow and a metallic diamond-shaped piece set over the upper edge of it while aiming upwards.

The rest of the forearm and hand were protected by a layer of armor in the form of a cylinder's upper half with two brownish plates set over it plus a small brownish dot on the left side of the armor.

A small crevice split the set into two parts: the aforementioned part and a more simplistic running across the reverse of the forearm and wrist: his hands were covered in black "skin" as well.

Regarding the rest of his upper body and legs, it was enough to say that they were covered in black "skin" and that some brownish diamonds were set in a column running down the sides of the body until where the large boots began, at around the knees.

The boots were thick and big as well and they began at the knee: a metallic hexagon was set on the upper edge and its upper half served as additional protection for the legs: their dominant color was, of course, a fierce bright red color.

Another two hexagons were set stacked below the upper edge along with two small diamonds extending from the second hexagon's SW and SE corners.

A thin black line travelled from the ankle to the start of the fingers before drawing an arch and forming a small black cavity from which a metallic triangle emerged and pointed northwards: there was another one large in size and colored in a dull orange color immediately below and the rest of the boots were the double-thickness soils formed by two large curved-edged triangles.

In short: it was obvious that he was a user of "Flame" and that he wanted to look like a though guy.

"Gotta say it! You've made a cool design." Gray Thunderbolt grinned.

"Thanks, Gray. So, what's next?"

"Training. Let's go bust some Viruses and silly grunts."

"My pleasure."

"Heh, heh, heh. This is the start of our "Elite Unit"…"

"And this power will be used for the Seraphs' goals…"

"Good. Never forget that."

"I won't."

"Metto~!"

A gray-colored Mettool suddenly dropped in front of them and hit the ground with its pickaxe: the shockwave left a trail of "Poison Panels" on its wake and both jumped to dodge.

"The most powerful of all Mettols… The Mettol 3 EX…" Gray Thunderbolt introduced.

"Me…tto~!"

"Hey, dude! Wanna burn? Eat this! Flame Nightmare!"

Raging Flame formed two Hell's Burner Battle Chips and began to vomit torrents of flames at the Mettol making it burn to a crisp within a few seconds: he laughed.

"My Hell's Burners are edited to use liquid hydrogen and oxygen as fuel just like "The Fury" in _MGS3: Snake Eater_! I'm a hack, I know. But that's the fun part of it." He admitted.

"Total busting time: 10 seconds… Busting Level: S… Heh! No big deal, really. Let's go search for some bigger-sized preys and we'll rock them and rattle them all." Gray Thunderbolt grinned.

"Yessir. This area is gonna become the Seraphs' training grounds and not even Golden Star can halt us."

"Well said, man!"

08:46 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Enzan – sama. The auto-phone, sir."

"Let me guess: you cannot ID it."

"Yes, Enzan – sama."

"Patch it through. If it's Eisei Aaron then he may make a slip of the tongue."

"Roger, Enzan – sama."

"_Non tout dans le vie c'est noire et blanc, Monsieur_ Enzan?"

"What?"

Enzan had been sitting on the armchair inside of what looked like his apartment's living room and playing with a Wii console the game _Biohazard: Darkside Chronicles_ when his PET rang so he hit the "START" button to pause it for the moment: someone speaking French asked something to him and he frowned.

"… "Not all in life is just black and white, right, Enzan – sama?"… That's what they said, sir."

"They mean my hair colors and the _Pocket Monsters_ games." He grumbled as a response.

"_Cela signifie, Messieurs, que, selon vos calculs, nous nous trouvons en ce moment dans le nombre dix de Downing Street dans la métropole de Londres!"_

"… "The meaning of this, Gentlemen, is that, according to _your_ calculations, we all are inside Number 10 of Downing Street within the London Metropolis by now!"… What?"

"Number 10 of Downing Street…? Hey! That's the Prime Minister's residence!" Enzan realized.

"Bravo." Sarcastic clapping could be heard.

"Something about you rings a bell somewhere."

"_Où donc se cache-t-elle, cette gredin de malheur?" _

"… "Where is that damned bandit hiding at?"… "Charon" or "Dullahan", you mean?" Blues guessed.

"_Que se passe-t-il, là haut?"_

"… "What's going on up there?"… Up there? You mean the upstairs apartment? I don't know who is Enzan – sama's neighbor."

"It may be a film star living in _incognito_!"

"Be serious, whoever you are."

"Would you like some _obscure coffee with a hint of heat?"_

"What silliness is that? Something Meijin made up or WHAT?" Enzan rolled his eyes.

"_Messier l'Homme de l'Obscurité_ invented it."

"Mr. Man of Obscurity… You mean Dark Man?" Blues guessed.

"_Laissez - moi! Il faut que je passe ma rage sur quelque chose!" _

"… "Allow me! I need something into which to vent my anger!"… And what's that "something"?" Blues questioned.

"_C'est tout, oui?"_

"… "That's all, right?"… Dunno."

"I'll say one thing: normal view." The voice switched to Japanese.

"What normal view?" Enzan frowned.

"No~rma~l vi~e~w…" The caller made a deep tenor – like voice as if he was acting in an opera.

"It must quite a splendid normal view to honor it so much." Enzan commented with obvious sarcasm.

"… Complete… global… saturation…" The voice inhaled before saying each word and ended up with a rather sinister exhale.

"W-what?"

"Commendable, yet futile." The voice announced with a hint of amusement.

"What's commendable yet futile at the same time?" Blues asked.

"You're fired." The voice stated.

"You're the one who's fired." Enzan replied.

"Saxby." The caller announced all of a sudden while sounding slightly surprised.

"Who's that?" Blues asked.

"Bert Saxby?" The caller sounded bewildered now.

"I don't know any Bert Saxby." Enzan replied.

"That's the man's name." The dull voice affirmed.

"I'm telling you I know no Bert Saxby!" Enzan insisted.

"Tell him he's fired!" The voice grumbled.

"I couldn't care less." Enzan rolled his eyes.

"_Cornichons de zouaves!"_

"…"You silly Zouaves!"… What?"

"_Arrière, forbans!" _The caller shouted.

"… "Back, you pirates!"… We're not pirates!"

"_Arrière, vermine! Arrière, cloportes! Arrrière, chenapans!"_

"… "Back, you vermin! Back, you woodlouse! Back, you rogue!"… I'm about to get annoyed."

"Yeah. Who wouldn't?" Enzan grumbled.

"_Voilà pour toi, scolopendre!_"

"…"Eat this, you centipede!"… You're the centipede!"

"_Vieux cachalot!_"The caller yelled next.

"… "You old sperm whale!"… You…!"

"_Miserables vers de terre!_"

"… "You miserable earth worms!"… Are you done?"

"Yeah. Guess who I am, _Buruusu_."

"_Noir_."

"Yo. _Kyoudai_. You fine?" Legato taunted.

"Shaddup." He growled.

"In any case, Enzan - kun… Do cha know what Langley is?" _Noir_ asked.

"Langley…? Isn't that the CIA HQ?" Enzan asked.

"It turns out that the encryption algorithm used by "Dullahan" pointed there. It was a subterfuge for conspiracy fanatics to fall for but we haven't fallen for it. Since they bought an access code for one node we know what data they receive, what data they send out or what data they look up. It's our fail-safe policy." _Noir_ explained.

"So… Anything new on "Charon", you guys?"

"We believe he uses some kind of EM generating device to knock people out, intercept bullets or fry any electrical circuits. Problem is: we can't guess what his next move will be." _Noir_ replied.

"Have you found anything else about those "Seraphs"?"

"We eavesdropped on Colonel talking with good ol' Shadow Man. Apparently he's under a contract from Colonel to investigate things out of place within the Reverse Internet. He spotted Gray Thunderbolt and a new companion of his." _Noir _detailed.

"What? Gray got a companion? Do you know his name?"

"He's called Raging Flame. It'd seem he's started up very recently ago. We don't know his human ID, though."

"That's something. Did you find any data which reinforced Chief Sorodo's explanation?"

"There are some rumors that they got a new head honcho some months ago to replace the original one." _Noir_ replied.

"You don't have any clues as to where their HQ is at or the identities of any of their high executives." Enzan assumed.

"We managed to snatch a little piece of data. It merely reported the following: "Seraph Tower is at 90% completion. ETA to completion: two weeks."…"

"Hmmm… Maybe they're building something?"

"It really sounds like it. But I have no idea of what or where. Joel – kun believes that "Charon" is merely toying around and he may get serious by trying to commit killings like "Dullahan" or things like that, in his opinion. Victor that all of these robberies have a link: they're a way to stall until this "Seraph Tower" is complete. It transfers the public and the police's attention elsewhere." _Noir_ explained.

"Alright. Try to figure out anything you can. By the way, I've tried "Cross Fusion" in some experiments using a device named "Dimensional Generator" which allows for the "Dimensional Area" to be projected anywhere after being relocated by a satellite."

"We'd heard of that. Oh yeah! That reminds me… We detected a "Dimensional Converter" which wasn't theirs but it was a very faint trace so we couldn't investigate it properly… The spot was Nara's public gardens and the time was yesterday. Maybe it's related to the appearance of this new "Denpa – Henkan" using guy…" He admitted.

"I see. And maybe their numbers will grow… They must be trying to assemble a force to battle some of you at the very least."

"Yeah. Sounds like it. Well. That's all for today, so… Beware of Mr. Wesker's kick-'em-all tricks."

There was a giggle while Enzan fumed and grumbled…

09:03 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Take this! And this! And this one too…! Huff, huff… Alright! Let's make a break… I've been at it for 30 minutes and I haven't had breakfast yet but I thought it'd be good to start with some rigorous training… Hmmm? That humming… Che. That guy…"

Styx had been practicing boxing with a sack hanging from the ceiling and was now finishing: he sat down on a bench and took out the boxing gloves to then pick a towel and dry the sweat covering his face and torso: he grumbled something under his breath and closed his eyes.

"Dullahan. Even if you're as still as statue the hum from your circuitry gives you away." Styx hissed with obvious hostility.

Dullahan walked out the gym's door threshold shade.

"Is that so?" His voice had a ring of sarcasm to it.

"Baron – sama needs me, then."

"Actually… He doesn't." Dullahan admitted.

"Then what? You wanna brawl?"

"I was double-checking that you were not trying to override Baron – sama's order to not to exhaust your body."

"You think I'm an idiot, right." Styx turned away from Dullahan and walked away.

"… I can see the atmosphere is heating up. I shall remove myself from the scene." He muttered as if being cautious.

The mole stepped out of the room while Styx kept on grumbling under his breath: he headed for a nearby sink and splashed his face with cold water as if to shake it off.

"Whatever. My next set of five missions will be a success too. The world shall know to fear us "Seraphs"…! Hmpf!"

He chuckled under his breath and formed a smug smile.

"Styx. Boxing?"

"Ah! Yes, sir."

"What did Dullahan want?"

"He was trying to loophole, sir."

"Che. And I did tell him not to interfere with your training too."

"Dread Baron" came into the gym to speak with Styx who quickly saluted and remained firm: the man grumbled when Styx reported what "Dullahan" had been doing.

"He has a tendency to stay still in the threshold and watch but the hum of the robot body gives him away, sir."

"Dullahan! Be it the last time or someone will suffer the consequences of my wrath!" He called out.

"Yes, sir. Understood, sir." He quickly replied.

"Don't get in Styx's way."

"Yes, sir. As you command, sir."

"That's an ORDER."

"Yes, sir. As you desire, sir."

"Now flee!"

"Roger, sir."

"There. Let's hope he acts like a mature man. How ironic that he's the one acting in a childish manner instead of you… Get ready for tonight's missions: we'll soon we'll expand our horizons to overseas too."

"By thou will, my Lord." He made a reverence.

Styx waited until he'd come out to let a glint of bad mood show up on his eyes which he narrowed.

_Dullahan! Be downgraded by Baron – sama! Such is your fate!_


	7. Chapter 7: Independence Day

**Chapter 7: **_**Independence Day**_

18:28 PM (Japan Time), Tuesday February the 11th…

"…that damned referee! Should've punished the rival player with a red card for ramming into the home team's player…!"

"Yeah! I'm sure there was some bribing!"

"Can't believe it! This is JAPAN! What happened to our spirit of _sportsmanship_?"

"Dunno."

"Oi. Don't you hear a rumbling sound?"

"Well… Yeah…"

"A~H! L-look up there!"

"What in the… A UFO?"

"The Martians! RU~N!"

"Kya~h!"

"A~h!"

Various Net Navis had been chatting as they ran errands across Internet City, a virtual Net Navi city, when the air rumbled and a huge shape appeared on it while blocking the "light" from the "sun" illuminating the city.

"By all the…"

The "UFO" was colored concrete gray and built of two circles, an external one and an inner one: eight sets of three white-colored tubes spread from each of the cardinal corners and connected to the central sphere: a third thinner circle had been built closer to the central spheroid and eight spires with three rings each and an spheroid at their top came out of the edges while frizzling with greenish electricity.

"What in the…"

The "UFO" began to shoot green-colored thunderbolts around the city thus deleting anything which made contact with its energy: a distorted and amplified manly chuckle rang out.

"Destruction! Annihilation! Such is the will of the High One! Let all herds of fools who oppose the High One and the Four Heavenly Kings be destroyed by its servants!" The voice proclaimed.

The centermost section opened a circular hatch and began to shoot a vertical beam of greenish energy which quickly split into nine and started to draw trails of destruction around the Internet City.

"Hah, hah, hah! Deity of Water! Miawaa! Deity of Earth! Sunaae! Deity of Wind! Keziee! Deity of Flames! Gaeusou! The Four Heavenly Kings have spoken and so has the High One!"

Andy and Legato suddenly dropped from the "skies" and atop the centermost section: both drew Neo Variable Swords and quickly drew a circle about the width of a person which Legato kicked to make it fall inside: there was a clattering sound as metal hit metal and both dropped inside of the centermost section to discover a reddish spheroid of energy producing all of the energy: the one destined for the outlets travelled across some air ducts cut in the walls and a round catwalk with a handrail had been constructed at mid-height too.

"Bingo." Legato grinned.

"Let's tell this guy he's fired. Besides, the UFO design looks like a poorly improvised _Independence Day_ rip-off."

"Not so fast, you two… Battle Chip, Noise Storm!"

Someone dropped down from above while shooting a tempest of wind at high speeds which hit Legato and pushed him back: the enemy was concealed by some kind of invisibility field.

"So? Whaddya think of this "Active Camo" I picked from an Elite soldier the other day in Installation 04?"

"Again with the _Halo_ jokes, huh. What's your name?"

"Fighting Cyclone!"

Fighting Cyclone's main body color was green.

His helmet was also partial since the rear was unshielded and his purple-tinted hair emerged from behind.

It was split into two parts: the uppermost part had a dome protruding off the helmet's center and protected by further armor which, as seen from the front, amounted to a trapeze with two extensions reminiscent of antennae aiming backwards: two narrow yellowish pyramids formed from the rear section of the dome and aimed backwards: the center of the trapeze had the "_kaze_" or "wind" _Kanji_ colored purple set there.

The second part of the helmet could be described as an inverted trapeze covering the center of the forehead and with two slightly curved lines aiming backwards and which ended with another pair of inverted trapezes coupled with a bit of black armor: the ear-pads were also purple in color but had no drawing there yet they had a black edge as seen from the outside while the edge running down the cheeks was white.

A pair of greenish transparent shades protected his eyes the irises of which were brown.

The chest armor began with a round blue metallic collar around the base of the neck and, from there, an inverted triangle-shaped piece of greenish armor extended with the purple initials "FC" scrawled on its centermost spot.

The shoulders had an initial upper-half-of-a-cylinder armor coupled with further armor with curved greenish armor built in segments: two white paws were set on the foremost and rearmost sections.

His forearms, like most Navis, had armor starting at the elbow and protecting them: it was built using a green circle plus a green cylinder reaching until the wrist: three fins were arranged in a row over the whole of the armor paired with a pair of white metallic blades reminiscent of a dragon's ones starting at the wrist and extending past the hands' length: the exposed arm was covered in black "skin" too.

Similar to Raging Flame, the body below the torso and until the knees was only shielded by black "skin" and a row of dull gray metallic squares ran down the length of both sides.

The legs' armor began at the knees with a blade aiming upwards and a navy blue round edge with a diagonal depression: the rest of the boots were rather plain green models with two bands splitting the boots in three segments colored deep green.

Lastly, a metallic green piece with orange edge reminiscent of a dragon's tail emerged from the rear of the torso's armor.

His overall height was over a meter and seventy tall.

"So! You're a comrade of both Raging Flame and Gray Thunderbolt?" Andy interrogated.

"You know 'bout Flame?" Fighting Cyclone seemed surprised.

"Yeah."

"Heh. This makes things funnier. You two are Legato and Andy from Golden Star. I've been briefed."

"No surprise. Legato! You can leave. I can handle a rookie without sweating." Andy told him.

"I can guess that. See you later, Andy – kun."

Legato warped out of the UFO with a big grin on his face.

"Who are cha calling a rookie?" Fighting Cyclone made a scowl.

"Cha, cha are the rookie in 'ere." Kage announced over his communications screen.

"Don't screw ME~!" He roared as he pointed an accusing finger at Kage while being pretty annoyed.

"Don't mess with the UN." Miquel countered.

"Who cares about the UN?" Fighting Cyclone asked while still being annoyed with Kage's jokes.

"We do. Do cha wanna put a bullet on the UN's Secretary General, perhaps?"

"I don't waste my time with trivial things!" Fighting Cyclone countered while sound skeptical.

"I don't, either." Miquel replied.

"Hey! Where did Andy go to?" Fighting Cyclone gasped.

"Over here… You sinner!"

Fighting Cyclone gasped because Andy's voice had echoed and he now realized that the place had become way too quiet: the lighting had dimmed to a level of almost total blackness and the only light apart from the orange glow of the core was a set of blackish/reddish flashes which were distorting the air somehow: Fighting Cyclone turned white as if fearing what was going on: he glanced at a spot five centimeters over the core where a cocoon about two meters tall was hovering while apparently sucking off energy from the core hence why the "UFO" had stopped shooting at the city.

"No way… Tell me I'm hallucinating…" He nervously muttered while he stepped back.

"You fool! Dare to challenge the wish of Serenade – sama and the will of Slur – sama?" Andy's annoyed voice boomed out.

"N-no, I'm going back, thank you…" He nervously muttered.

"Too late."

The cocoon suddenly exploded and released all energy thus making the Cyber World light up yet the shockwave pushed Fighting Cyclone across the air until he hit the wall and hard.

"Oh shit. I'm in deep shit."

"Huff, huff… Yeah… Guess so!" Kage made a grin and suddenly began to sound tired.

"Get ready."

Andy had gained a new form which had an "advanced" look to it yet it also looked terrifying.

Black for the upper half and gray for the lower half: a small thin piece of armor emerging from the upper half and shaped like the Alphabet "L" character turned 90º to the right was also present there.

The helmet's design was rather peculiar because it wasn't a full helmet to begin with: the sides of it had two gray metallic shapes the form of which was slightly reminiscent of the Alphabet "L" character: a fluorescent green incision had been cut in the part adjacent to the face while the larger segments had a yellow-colored incision cut into it.

The segment covering the head was built using a blackish material and could be divided in four sections: the centermost, built like a triangle aiming south and which also covered the forehead: it ended slightly over the start of the nose.

The western and eastern sections of the head's protection had been shaped after diamonds aiming NW and NE plus having green fluorescent material running down the sides to join with the "L" shapes.

The rearmost piece was a mere curved segment connecting the lateral pieces: a gray metallic triangle was drawn on the middle of the head from where a black-colored fin emerged: the fluorescent green line divided it into two unequal portions: front and rear, and the rear one was painted using gray metallic coloring.

Andy's hair came out of behind the helmet given how it was a "partial protection" model: red thick shades covered the eyes and nose plus a small grayish metallic piece of armor was built to protect his chin and lower jaw: the skin over his neck was black in color.

Andy's eyes, visible under the transparent red shades, displayed a total lack of emotion and they surprisingly had switched to a mix of red and blue as if to display his current "Full Synchro" status.

The chest area had a metallic spheroid protruding out of it and a green-colored incision had been cut on the middle of it.

The upper front half was colored in a white-like color while the rear upper half was black: however, the whole lower half had chosen gray as color to be used: the piece of armor below it and connecting to the rest of the body shared the same color.

The armor's colors were combined in the rest of the body below the chest segment: the flanks of the body had grey armor with green fluorescent edges while the central part of the body was tinted in pitch blackish coloring.

Regarding his arms' design, a black piece of armor covered the shoulders which were encompassed by metallic spheroids: these spheroids were not "complete" spheroids because they had a cavity from where the arms emerged: a thin fluorescent green circular line was placed close to the upper edge where the armor was colored in black color and formed a dome with a hole at the topmost part of each spheroid the inner edge of which was painted using a yellow palette of coloring: these spheroids also had an indentation signaling the separation between each half.

His arms' skin was black in coloring while the armor built over his wrists was painted using two colors.

The legs' armor, however, included two shapes which were a pair of combined cones (fused and aiming up and down) colored metallic gray and set within a green cavity extending from the hips to past the knees.

The colors then split as the outer edge of each leg was colored in gray armor while the inner edge were colored black: a green fluorescent line marked the division between them: the lines then drew another cavity which included gray metallic armor plating inside of it.

The feet armor was split in rear and front halves respectively colored black and metallic gray: a fin formed on the front half and it had a green fluorescent line crossing it on its front.

Two discs having an external black edge, an inner thin yellowish edge and a red dome built on the core were set on the upper ends of the shoulder-mounted-pieces: yellowish energy emanated from them and made them look powerful and imposing.

Lastly, two extensions came out from behind the body which happened to be black-colored frames supporting reddish wings which were made of energy flowing from the shorter starting section to the larger outwards section.

"Ryuusei Form!"

"T-the Ryuusei Form…! I'm DOOMED!" He shrieked as if he was gonna be slaughtered alive.

"Flee." Andy icily commanded.

Fighting Cyclone quickly jumped into the hole below the floating core and dropped towards Internet City before opening the "black hole" and disappearing: Andy hovered away from the core.

"Which one?" He merely asked.

"Let's cheer to _Noir_."

"Roger. Black End… Galaxy!"

Andy lifted his hands and formed a small spheroid of blackish energy which he then dropped behind the core: it suddenly grew into a large black hole which began to suck everything around it: Andy drew a reddish blade on his right forearm and boosted on forward cutting the air where the core was at and splitting it into two halves from which energy began to pour out at a mad rate: Andy flew past the black hole which suddenly collapsed and the shockwave originating from its implosion made the core shatter into more fragments: the energy began to spread out of control all around the structure while Andy merely channeled some into his body.

"Huff, huff… This thing is gonna blow up so let's get outta here: our mission's done with anyway."

"Roger, Miquel – kun."

He assumed a fetal position as energy flowed out of him and formed the cocoon again: the energy seemed to be absorbed by his body and the cocoon slowly dissipated to reveal how he'd returned to his normal form by now.

"Let's jump out like in the movies." He grinned and seemed to have returned to his previous mood.

"Alright, Admiral."

He jumped down just as the energy of the core overloaded the composition of the "UFO" and it began to be deleted while the remaining energy dissipated across the air: he wiped his forehead and then noticed someone standing behind him: Roll EXE.

"My. Roll – san. It has been many a day, my lady." He made a gallant bow and came up with some old-fashioned motto.

"Oh come on, Andy – kun! I'm not the type to go by those."

"Sorry. I got inspired."

"So… Who was there?"

"A guy named Fighting Cyclone. A rookie."

"A rookie was placed in charge of that thing? Why not send a veteran, I say?" She wondered.

"Dunno. I guess they cared more about leaving an impression of what they can do with their power than whatever the end result is: they obviously predicted we'd come but they wouldn't have thought I'd use my secret form to do that." He shrugged.

"I see. Well, do your best. Rock Man sends his greetings."

"Thanks. I'll meet with him one of these days."

"See ya!"

"See you, Roll – san."

Roll jumped down while Andy did the same: he hummed a tune and quickly hid in a side alley while some curious began to show up and looked around the wake of destruction.

_I better go elsewhere. Or else I'll find a fan-girl crowd asking for my autographs… Heh, heh, heh!_

"Hey."

"Hmmm? Ah. Tom. Been a while. What's up?"

"Good job."

"Thanks."

A Navi had suddenly called out for Andy from a nearby corner of the alley and Andy identified him so he formed a smile.

Tom was a Net Navi who could easily be around a meter and eighty tall and he had the looks of an assassin to him given his cold scarlet red irises and the total lack of emotion on his face.

Other traits included self-inflicted cuts over his upper chest which looked like a count of victims: a total of 17 cuts had been engraved in there insofar.

His main bodysuit color was gray combined with red armlets around the ankles and wrists: his hands had an extra layer of "skin" colored brown and he also sported a utility belt around the waist set with some grenades and knives on them plus a Makarov pistol.

Lastly, he had a pair of binoculars protected by their fund hanging from his neck using a brown leather band.

"Kage."

"Felix Qong. Did you beat Joanne – san a thousand times already? Did you call for your namesake's help?"

"Namesake?"

"Felix Leiter. CIA."

"… That, huh. No. I don't need anyone's help. But… Good job. Rookies should not… be given such… responsibilities… it'll make them… cocky and arrogant…"

"True, my fellow conspirer, true."

"Hmpf…"

A holographic image of the guy named Felix Qong formed in the alley along with one of Kage as if being some new tech to replace the usual screen which only showed the face.

Felix Qong had short brown hair which had been cut into a military haircut but was largely hidden by a grayish cap with no logos on it whatsoever: his eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses too.

He wore a sleeveless camouflage-colored vest over a black long-sleeved shirt plus a pair of jeans.

He sported a pair of black military boots too.

His gray and brown PET had the golden-colored Alphabet "T" character drawn as emblem surrounded by a black edge.

He currently was holding a PSG-1 sniper rifle aimed for the ground and looking straight at Kage.

"So… What next?" Tom asked.

"We know that they expect something to be ready by the 22nd of February, so…"

"Hum… 11 days from now…" Tom muttered.

"Yeah. It'd be lovely to try to get our hands in some information about what this business is about…"

"Guess we'll eventually find out." Tom shrugged.

"Tom. Work…" Qong called out.

"Alright, Felix. See ya."

"Later."

"I'll go to report to Boss…"

"Wait for me, Mr. Smith!"

"Oho. Good one, Mr. Anderson, good one."

Both chuckled under their breaths…

18:29 PM (Japan Time)…

"Hey… Kazebun Gerard… How did it go?"

"Horribly."

"Why?"

"THE RYUUSEI FORM THING! HE DID IT! I BARELY GOT AWAY FROM THERE IN ONE PIECE, EISEI AARON!"

"W-whoa! C-calm down, man! They wouldn't have tried to delete you anyway because you're still a human, see!"

"YOU WEREN'T THERE! YOU DIDN'T FEEL THAT POWER!"

"Oi, Kazebun! What's with these yells?"

"NETSUHONOO! THINK IT TWICE BEFORE TRYING TO CHALLENGE THAT SMUG JERK NAMED ANDY!"

"Whoa! Calm down, you!"

"SILENCE!"

"Yikes! P-Prince – sama!"

"Gray. What's going on?"

"Well…"

Eisei had met with a new "recruit" in the corridor leading to the throne room of the Seraph HQ.

The guy looked like he was close to seventeen years old and he had eyes with brown irises: his hair had been tinted purple and his face was smooth and had a "good" profile to it.

He sported an open purple sleeveless vest over a t-shirt with the drawing of a purple-colored tornado and the words "KICKASS TORNADO" colored green inscribed below it: his jeans were plain yet coupled with a black belt decorated with the "_taifuu_" or "cyclone" _kanji_ colored green.

His sneakers were colored purple and green as well.

Kazebun Gerard began to yell: Netsuhoono came down the corridor from the spot where it turned to the left and Kuroban came out of the room while looking pretty annoyed: the air seemed to chill all of a sudden and Eisei gulped.

"Ka… Kazebun here had a run-in with Andy…"

"And?"

"He used that form, the Ryuusei Form…"

"And?"

"And it was so powerful that it's shaken him to core."

"That powerful?"

"The UFO's gone."

"Impossible."

"No. Andy made the core split into portions and all of the unleashed energy was conducted by the UFO until it overwhelmed its data composition and led to its self-deletion." Eisei detailed.

"By all the… But the core was designed to withstand all major Program Advances and all! You tested it over and over again!" He signaled Eisei while sounding incredulous.

"I did! But apparently the Ryuusei Form's just that powerful second in scale to that woman's, Slur's, power."

"By the High One! What madness!" His voice got a distinct foreign accent to it for a moment.

"I know. What do we do? _Aibou_?"

"Nothing will change! NO MATTER WHAT!"

"G-gotcha."

"What a herd of fools… Golden Star! Be destroyed by the combined wrath of the Four Heavenly Kings…! The High One commands so…!"

18:57 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Tee, heh, heh."

"Oi, Bertha – chan… Won't Mr. President get annoyed at this?"

"Why should he?"

"Kage – kun will not like this."

"He doesn't need to know."

"Now you're playing Ms. Conspirer?"

"Could be said so, my dear. Welcome to the party."

"Hah, hah. How funny."

"My. What dryness, Sandra."

"Obviously."

Ikada was sitting in a chair next to a café´s table and sometimes looking up from a fashion magazine at a nearby table where both Netto and Saito were immersed in their text-books and hand-written notes recorded in their notebooks: two empty water glasses had been left in a corner and both of them looked concentrated: Sandra's hologram was looking at Ikeda with some annoyance and skepticism while Ikeda was trying to make it look like it was nothing important.

BEEP – BEEP – BEEP

"Mail… Jeez! Not again. Go codfish!" Netto grumbled as he looked at it and then left on its place again.

"That little girl, Sakurai Meiru, must be trying to force him to say "yea" or "nay" like how Joanne corners Miquel with the topic."

"Maybe." Sandra shrugged.

BEEP – BEEP – BEEP

"What, now me? Jeez! Go tuna!" Saito grumbled next as apparently a new mail came in.

"My, my."

"Don't get funny ideas."

"Who knows?" She teased.

"You do." Sandra didn't fall for the trick.

"Mr. Douglas does?"

"I dunno who Mr. Douglas is."

"An intriguing fellow, by Moran."

"Jeez." Sandra rolled her eyes.

"But not as intriguing as Miquel."

"Leave Kage – kun out of this: don't you have enough with having Zarashe – kun as your "dominatrix" partner?"

"Well, yes. That's amusing. But trying to emulate Joel is funny too. Oh my, and who is coming in? Mr. Soldier."

"Ian Torolov…" Sandra was surprised.

"Eh…" Torolov called out.

"Oh. Torolov… What, Laika made you his proxy?"

"Well, yeah." He admitted.

"What's his problem?"

"He demands to know if you're still annoyed by that incident of some years ago… Ya know: the "Rock Man DS" incident…"

"Until you'd mentioned it I'd totally forgotten it. And tell him no-one's perfect, we were nervous and all. It was a trap: we'd be idiots if so many years afterwards we kept on dancing to the enemy's tune."

"Guessed as much… Jeez. I'm not his chauffeur or his proxy: I'm gonna tell him to stop pressing me and he should obey Chief Sorodo instead of hunting for non-existent conspiracies…" He grumbled.

"Guess so." Saito was unimpressed.

"Sorry for the bother. I'm so gonna have a serious chat with him and I'm gonna ring his uncle, the Commander… This show has to end: I'm gonna see to it, by the Motherland!"

He ran off while looking pretty annoyed and Ikeda drew a broad smile while Sandra was absolutely unimpressed: Ikeda then finished her coffee and stretched before heading over to the counter and paying for it: she rolled up the magazine and suddenly loomed over both twins who looked up.

"_Hi_~." She greeted.

"D-do you need something, Miss?" Netto politely asked.

"Can we help you, Miss?"

"One word of advice: tell that little girl to worry about marks and not _manga_ pairings. And I'd rather say you should be glad not to be in Miquel's place and have to deal with a persistent woman such as Joanne, see… _Bye_, _boys_."

She giggled and walked off while Sandra rolled her eyes in total exasperation and the twins looked bewildered at her comments: they looked at each other.

"That person was one of Miquel's companions, then…"

"And she knows about Meiru – chan…"

"Guess that "Joanne" person must be nosier than Meiru to begin with or she wouldn't have said that." Netto guessed.

"Probably… But Laika going and using Torolov as his proxy was a low move, alright. He'll regret it dearly. His own obsessions and paranoia are driving him to do stupid things. Even Torolov was fed up with the deal." Saito was annoyed by now.

"Who wouldn't?"

Both sighed in defeat…

19:22 PM (Japan Time)…

"… By the way, _Noir_, I just had an idea."

"Tell me, Miquel – kun."

"It's about that "Seraph Tower" thing…"

"Yeah. Do you have a guess about it?"

_Noir_ was standing in the deck of _Purgatory_ along with Legato and talking with Kage over the Link PET.

"… Yeah. Well, Andy and I were thinking… A tower. We assumed that its codename is not a codename and it's that thing's real name. Then we thought: why do they need a tower? Why the secrecy? They need new HQ or offices? Well, alright. But then again it gave off the vibe that there was a lot riding on it. Else why would've they bothered to come up with the joint plot with "Dullahan" and "Charon", anyway?" Kage began exposing their reasoning.

"You've made some good points there." _Noir_ sounded taken in by the reasoning.

"Next we thought: this is a Japan project. That could be why the robberies insofar have been across Japan although it's not impossible for them to jump overseas to further distract us and make us think that Japan isn't where the thing is being built at." Andy continued.

"Good point."

"And we continued: we searched for any construction projects financed with irregular money and apart from one or two apartment buildings or mansions we found nothing which hinted at a tower being built anywhere in Japan… But then again, how do you make sure the builders don't say a single thing? If they begin suspecting the business is queer… And hiring a large number of workers will inevitably bring along the Ministry of Public Works… And there would be a record of the project." Kage listed some other arguments.

"Another good argument, yeah."

"So… What's the answer? If they could build a complicated robot why not build a legion of building robots? And maybe by using the Von Neumann machine principle too… You use a machine which is capable of self-replicating from the available raw materials in a quick time and thus you can have say, 700 of them in a week's time. Then the construction would be fast." Andy grinned.

"Von Neumann machine… I'd heard of it, yeah."

"Good. Let's assumed all of the above is correct. We've got another matter to settle: what's the tower about to justify all these extraordinary systems? It obviously is no plain tower. And how do you conceal such a tower, anyway? That's more or less where we're stuck but we've drawn an idea about the tower's purpose: if Hikari – kun says that, according to Superintendent Oda, these "Seraphs" guys are intended in nothing short of world domination, then… How would this tower contribute to it: maybe its completion is the "D-Day" itself?"

"The "D-Day"…! In just 11 days from now…!"

"As per the tower's purpose… What could be a better sign of telling the world about it than making a feat which cannot be surpassed? And I don't mean shooting ICBMs all around the world. No… Using a huge amount of "Dimensional Converters"… Couldn't you create a gigantic "Dimensional Area" to encompass the whole globe? You'd certainly need a lot more energy than you usually do and some way of stacking so many of them together… What better way to do it than to use a whole building devoted to do that?" Andy exposed.

"By all the…! It couldn't be!" He gasped.

"What's wrong, sir?"

"The old man!"

"The old man… Nebula's Twilight, do you mean to say, sir?"

"Yeah! That same fucking old man! It was on the files I stole from the old man! "DC Tower"! A building using power cores like those in that "UFO" to do that…!"

"Whoa!" The three of them whistled in surprise.

He quickly drew a Link PET and inputted a command: Zero's close-up face appeared on it.

"You called, Boss?"

"Zero. I've got something for you."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"Try to run searches with the tags "construction site", "Seraph Tower", "Dimensional Converters", "Dimensional Area", "robots" and other tags you can think of… In short: we've figured out that thing's purpose and finding it should be priority number one."

"Delighted. Leave it to me and my babe."

"Thanks."

"Don't mind it, Boss. That's when I feel like I'm fulfilling my _raison d'etre_ to begin with. Later."

"Good. We're gonna head to have supper and hit the bed early because I've got an intensive virtual tutor session as well as a report to write so maybe I won't be able to drop by until the weekend." Kage took off his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes.

"Alright. Thanks for your help, though."

"Good work, Mr. White Mason." Agoras suddenly showed up from behind while clasping his hands behind him and having a broad smile drawn across his face.

"And Mr. MacDonald." Victor joked next.

"Thanks for the compliments, my fellow conspirers." Andy thanked with a broad smile as well.

"Indeed. The ship of fellow conspirers." Agoras suddenly announced in an overly-dramatic tone of voice.

Everyone laughed at the improvised motto…

23:43 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Heh, heh, heh. One down, two left, and I know where they are at: those will be part to open up the door to my backup plan. They may blow that UFO thing… But can they blow a behemoth up? By the High One! I'd like to see them trying in vain."

Kuroban was standing in the balcony of his throne room and looking out at the blackened seas and skies while having a smug smile drawn across his face.

"The sword was the first, the _shuriken_ will come next and the skull will be the third and last. And when I gather those, two days from now, I should only need another day to finish setting everything up… By Friday I should be able to turn the device on…"

He lifted his right hand and looked at it while apparently examining it or reflecting upon something.

"I have all the rights to. We fought a long and bloody war for that goal, after all. And this time no interloper will bring it down before I can take control of it… And no loathsome lapdogs will get in the way either: with this power… The power of the On'Setsu kingdom… I'll exterminate each and every one of those lapdogs!" He exclaimed.

He suddenly punched the frame as if having had a momentary rise of his anger given how he began to pant and he formed a grimace: he touched his chest with the left hand and then began to breathe in and out at a set pace.

"… Calm down. This is not how I should behave. I'm insulting my tutors and my late father like this. I must behave rationally and like the rightful heir… I know I'm 25 already but I don't feel like receiving the crown yet because I must prove my worth… And this is how I will: by controlling that we fought for…" He muttered as if reflecting.

He finally drew an almost psychotic grin and ripped part of the handrail to brandish it as if it were a sword: he acted like he stabbed someone in the chest and suddenly exploded into hysterical laughter…


	8. Chapter 8: Mystery

**Chapter 8: Mystery**

07:19 AM (Japan Time), Wednesday February the 12th…

"… Over here. My Master."

"Hmpf… So this is the place."

Shadow Man had come to a site somewhere which contained the remains of some kind of building made out of stone blocks: the place was full of dust and debris as if indicating they'd been around for some time: it looked like the place had collapsed and only part of the foundations had survived the collapse.

"And that's where that "Power" was sleeping at…"

"Yes, My Master."

"…which that Rock Man got…"

"Yes, My Master."

"…and as consequence of trying it out deleted the five foes he was facing and collapsed the building…"

"Indeed, My Master."

"Is there something worth here?"

"There are echoes, My Master."

"Echoes… Hum. So you come here to try to feel them and give you inspiration or guidance?"

"Correct, My Master."

"And what are they about?"

"A warrior's trials, the pride, the honor…" He summed up.

"Intriguing."

"Looking for treasures, Ninja Man?"

"Who…? Damn."

"What's wrong?"

"Andy!"

"Andy? Who's that?"

"A member of Golden Star, My Master!"

"That kid is?"

"Do not look down upon them! You name them a kid, but Rock Man was even younger! And see how far he got."

Andy had showed up behind Shadow Man while carrying some kind of scroll on his right hand and looking amused while Shadow Man gasped: the "Master" didn't seem to see why he was so nervous.

"That's Dark Miyabi, right? The assassination specialist…"

"How do you know about me?"

"Zero found your name tagged along with Shadow Man."

"What's that cylinder?"

"Don't worry! I was looking for Shadow Man because my best friend asked a favor outta me: return this."

He tossed Shadow Man the short cylinder and he noticed it was a scroll of some sort so he opened it and looked surprised.

"This is…"

"Yeah. It's been about 4 years and he suddenly remembered he should've returned it to you." Andy shrugged.

"What's that, Shadow Man?"

"Well… Nothing important, My Master. A bogus map… I gave it to Rock Man 4 years ago as a joke of mine… I'd forgotten about it, truth to be told, My Master…" He admitted.

"See ya, _Ninja_ Man. And beware of _Raiden_: at this rate he'll outshine you for all we know."

"Oi! Wait! They're gone…"

"Raiden? Who's that?"

"I don't know, My Master."

"Hmpf… Guess some silly imitator…"

"Maybe so…"

"Or maybe not." A voice rang out.

"Who…?"

"Your worst nightmare: Hollywood!"

"Oh come on."

"Uncle Moriarty's favorite nephew came to try it out on this _Sengoku_ _ninja_ guy." The voice amusedly added.

"Show your hide."

"Show your blade, stranger."

"This guy…!" He grumbled.

"Gray Thunderbolt's the name." Gray Thunderbolt announced as he suddenly showed up from behind a large piece of stone and grinned at Shadow Man.

"So you lowlife are one of those "Seraphs", huh."

"Yessir. Well! You should know that you gotta deal with extremely threatening, cold and dangerous folk… We never know where they come from: they come out from the nothing and drop upon us while letting out ear-deafening screams…" He suddenly began to say as if he was quoting someone.

"And that means the likes of you?" Shadow Man guessed while he gripped his _katana_'s hilt.

"Ah! I see! You're talking 'bout the patrol policemen who fine you for parking in the wrong place, right?"

"HUH? Say again?"

"No! Wrong! I mean the _extraterrestrial invaders_!"

"What?" Dark Miyabi sounded skeptical.

"But, Mr. Super… Those are just figurations, fantasies, subconscious hallucinations…"

"Well, son! For being a hallucination it sure needs to eat a lot… It landed on the outskirts yesterday, within a farmer's field… We got lucky and made it on time!"

"What are you talking about now?" Shadow Man was confused.

"_Mortadelo y Filemón_: the greatest humor comic-books ever! Anyway, let's keep at it, _Ninja _Man! Yeah? You could save the farmer?"

"No! The one we saved was the extraterrestrial! The farmer was beating them with an ox's stick because it was crushing their garlic! We suspect they are the vanguard of some kind of invading force… But there's no way to make them talk! They haven't uttered a single word! And we've tried the truth serum, we applied the will-cancelling electrodes, the cervical stimulator, the…"

"Heh! Just let me try it out…"

"THIS JERK… YOU MISERABLE… JUST YOU WAIT!"

"Why! How did you make them talk? Some encephalic vibrator? A lumbar anode? Or a cathode generator?"

"That's what we're wondering." Shadow Man fumed.

"No! Nothing alike that… What I did was to stuff my finger like this on his eye, see!"

"You'll regret this dearly, you earthlings! The great offensive is on the works! The Cataleptic Quarrelsome Planets Union or CQPU will ruin your dirty planet! No plant will be left alive! Hah, hah! We'll slaughter you: and you're powerless! PTAF! YOU IDIOT!" Gray Thunderbolt played the cocky and then imitated a punching sound.

"The Cataleptic Quarrelsome Planets Union…? Talk about some silly names." Dark Miyabi grumbled.

"What a big-mouthed cocky guy!"

"I thought as much… The great offensive! Professor Von Iatum is the head of UIC… UFO Interception Center… You'll be working for him and receiving orders from him!"

"Yes! We'll start the counter-offensive from our Moon base… Here you have the address… Put on the uniforms and come ASAP!"

"As you command! Did you hear it, Boss? A Moon base! We'll be working on the Moon!"

"We'll finally have some cool experiences! But… What I don't get is this address…"

"… Bah! Don't mind about it! Let's put on the astronaut uniforms and let's rock! B-but… These uniforms… aren't…"

"By all the…"

"What? I'm confused." Shadow Man cursed.

"Yes… You see, for the time being our organization is secret and thus we picked this place: to not to draw the attention, get it? And for economical reasons too… Heh, heh!"

"… "Moon base"… Grrr!"

"Oi! Hairy dude! Is the meal ready or what?"

"I throw them on his head… I don't… I throw them…"

"What… A restaurant?" Shadow Man tried to guess.

"Close! Bar "The Moon"! Hence the "Moon base" motto! Well! I'm off to work so… Go play domino with Uncle Merton!"

He laughed and vanished while Shadow Man and Dark Miyabi grumbled in annoyance yet they failed to notice Freeze Man looking at them from close by and having a grin across his face…

07:44 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Baron – sama? Might I ask one question?"

"Ask."

"Dullahan" was speaking with Dread Baron inside of a largely empty and unfurnished room which only contained a black leather armchair in which Dread Baron was sitting while looking at some data being displayed over a holographic screen: he looked up at the two glowing round spots on its chest.

"Was it necessary for me to be the one to control this robot body? If it had been someone else then Styx wouldn't distract from his duties to lash out at me." Dullahan exposed.

"It was necessary, Dullahan. The part of you and Styx lashing at each other is no more than a test." Dread Baron replied.

"A test, sir?" Dullahan sounded surprised.

"Prince Kuroban wanted to pit the two of you against each other to fuel your sense of competition and each working the best they could to come out above the other. As long as you don't get into a _physical_ quarrel then it's acceptable. But I'm not satisfied with your later behavior: are you feeling jealous, maybe?" He questioned.

"… I think so, sir." He admitted.

"That WON'T do. At ALL." He warned.

"Is that so…?"

"Are you DUMB or what?" He began to sound annoyed.

"No, sir. I was absent-minded…"

"The PAST is DEAD. BURIED. Get it?"

"Yes, my lord."

"So no more spying on Styx! He's ironically proving to be more mature than you in that aspect."

"Is that even possible, my lord?"

"Are you saying Prince Kuroban's monthly interviews with him are used by him to criticize you?" Dread Baron warned.

"No! I'd never stain the Prince's pride."

"Styx knows his place. His loyalty cannot be questioned. He has waited for his moment and trained. And insofar all has gone smoothly. You've done a good job but you knew from the start that you were the lay the ground for the distraction maneuvers… And now Styx gets to do his part. You've had a lot of months: he's got 9 days. And anyway those corpses you left on your wake will leave a longer impression than Styx's robberies because they are to conceal the fact that he's told to search for something needed by Prince Kuroban. Am I clear enough?"

"Roger, my lord."

"Then go to your quarters and continue supervising security and supplying of materials to the "Seraph Tower" site. If HAS to be ready in 10 days NO MATTER WHAT." He commanded.

"Roger, my lord… I take my leave."

"I'll be watching you!" He warned.

"Dullahan" came out of the room while Dread Baron resumed working with the figures: "Dullahan" walked towards a large door which had been designed for him to fit and closed it behind him without spotting Styx looking out through his own room door's keyhole.

_Heh! Dullahan… Baron – sama has had to scold you again. And he's right, as always. You've had MONTHS to shine. I only have 9 days. Or maybe less, depending on what Prince – sama decides… Anyway! One day I'll prove to be superior to you… You always looked down on me: and you were too much of a chicken, too! When things began to down-spiral you tried to flee like a rat but I didn't flee! I got locked up along with you but now I'm free again… And stronger than before…!_

He chuckled under his breath…

08:22 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Sector D clear… No wreck anywhere in sight…"

"Alright. Sorry for having you do this, Gray, but I don't really trust security here. They're always doing some idiotic stuff in the over-confidence that nothing can happen here. But a storm such as yesterday's evening could serve as cover for a plane to drop an agent to infiltrate the minor staff like cleansing or maintenance and no – one would notice… A boat could come in too and someone slip inside if they have someone to help them: I'm very paranoid of these things."

"Don't worry. Besides, the air is clear and calm. I only have another half of the sectors to handle before going back… I think I should go hunting for another talent…"

"I've set the total in 5 for the time being: in battle they could tackle some of the strongest but Slur's my prey."

"Will ya let me have Kage?"

"Sure. He's your prey. And if he's a worthy man he'll fight without that program to begin with."

"Yeah. Alright, Sector E… What!"

"Huh? What's wrong, Gray?"

"There's a capsized rubber boat here and a guy…"

"Hum."

Eisei had been patrolling around a set of tall concrete perimeter walls which formed an octahedron compound inside of which a cone-shaped building emerged: eight turrets with powerful spotlights were erected at intervals emerging from the walls: outside the walls there was an island's beaches and one sector had a concrete dock and path for the delivery of goods: Eisei had reached the fifth sector while starting from directly south and found a capsized rubber boat and someone half-buried underneath it which looked like they'd been washed there in a violent manner for the engine had fallen five meters from there.

"But I don't reckon this guy being any agent. He can't be much older than me anyway. He could be someone who went out sailing without knowing of the storm and ended up here. I found his passport."

"Read it." Kuroban ordered.

"Umisama Garcia, 17, Fukuoka, Fukuoka Province, Kyushu. He apparently lives with his aunt." He read.

"Hmmm… Let's have a medic visit him and question him when he wakes up… But if he proves to be "clean" then… We'll get another member: by the way, doesn't "umi" mean "sea"?"

"Yeah. So he'd be water-elemental."

"Exactly. I'm calling the medic. Stand by."

"Okay."

Eisei lifted the boat and checked on the guy: he may be around his own height and his hair had been dyed blue although there was a trace of brown hair underneath it.

He wore a life jacket over a shirt with the words "Hokkaido" and a drawing of Sapporo City's main avenue: his jeans were still somewhat wet as well as his fisherman's boots.

"And where's the PET…? Over there…"

He picked a navy blue and metallic gray PET with the "_nami_" or "wave" _Kanji_ colored blue and set against a silver background: he read some data on it and formed a grin.

"Oho. This _is_ amusing… Heh, heh, heh."

"Make way!"

A medic and two security guards carrying a stretcher picked the unconscious guy and carried him towards a nearby doorway while Eisei formed a grin.

_Very amusing, yeah… We've got another recruit!_

11:22 AM (Japan Time)…

"… _Noir_? Me. Zero."

"Come in!"

Zero walked into _Noir_'s office room and found him sitting behind the desk with his monk tunic and the hood: Legato, as always, was standing behind his right shoulder.

"I still haven't been able that fucking tower." He announced.

"That's odd. I checked the old man's schematics, and it was tens of meters tall! You may use stealth camouflage but the odd shape should give it away to any IR scan!" _Noir_ was surprised.

"Something's odd." Legato muttered.

"Damned odd. Anyway, I found something else."

"Oh? What is it?" Legato inquired.

"I found a private island about sixty kilometers south – east of Nagoya which has a big building surrounded by coastal defenses. I looked it up, and it belonged to something called "UN Commission for the Protection of Endangered Species in the North Pacific". But it reeks since it seems to have a weird EM atmosphere around it." Zero detailed.

"You're telling us that you found Seraph HQ instead?"

"Yeah."

"Good. So we can start orbital surveillance of the place and see if we can spot Eisei and company there as well as trying to figure who their elusive leader is."

"Alright. It'd seem we're missing something. The Tower exists and it's gotta be in Japan. We've found reports dating _years_ ago of supplies and how to properly use the Von Neumann machine…"

"…and which couldn't have been set up just to fool us. I get the point: I'll try to think of somewhere else. Later."

"Good luck."

"Thanks. We'll need it, really."

Zero came out while _Noir_ sighed and leant backwards.

"Where have done a mistake?"

"I do know, sir. All of our reasoning seemed to be logical, sir."

"Attention all hands: the time for Video Man's, Burner Man's and Needle Man's three-fellow-show has come!"

"Oho. I missed this." _Noir_ sounded amused.

"I missed it too, sir."

"Alright! Bring me a potato omelet and a cup of wine!" Needle Man commanded.

"Yes, my lord." Video Man replied.

"… Man! About time!"

"Heh, heh! Do you have enough with a fork or do you want a rake as well, sir?" Video Man asked

"Hum, hum… What I'd like to know is… Hum… Why do you take so much time to… hum, hum… to bring a mere slice of omelet…?" Needle Man wondered aloud.

"Well… Aquila's partly to blame…"

"Aquila? Hum! Who's that Aquila? Hum, hum, hum!" Needle Man asked with a hint of curiosity.

"The dog, you know? He's got the habit to lie atop the omelet and it's very hard to cut it… And regarding the wine… A rat got stuck in the faucet and it took me an hour to fill it up!"

"Terrific." _Noir_ laughed.

"Hey! What are ya doing? That's not how you play with one of those, man!" Burner Man scolded.

"Oh come on! Customers can be so bad-mannered sometimes… I don't know what their problem is!"

"Note! Mortadelo got merged with a pinball machine."

"Heh, heh!"

"Hey! Chut! You two! Urgent mission! Our sensors have spotted a "UFO" heading for this spot! You gotta go there and destroy it with our "interceptor" device already set there! Hurry up: there's not a moment to be wasted!"

"Hey! Waiter! I'd like some ironed octopus!"

"Alright, Boss, let's go!"

"GRRR!"

"Let me guess: he took it literally." Legato grinned.

"Yessir. He placed a living octopus atop his head with an unplugged iron as well!" Video Man admitted.

"This is the spot the "UFO" is heading for…"

"Wow! There's the "interceptor"! You can't say they've gone bankrupt from setting this up, no!"

"It's not an AAC gun?" _Noir_ wondered.

"Correct! It's a giant slingshot!"

"A giant slingshot! Mwah, hah, hah!" Legato laughed.

"Look! The "UFO" is on approach course!"

"Quick! Let's load the "interceptor" and smash it! Come one! Pull harder! You don't know how to do it or WHAT?"

"Ah, no? What do you think I do with my wages then?"

"Enough… Let's release it!"

"There goes the boulder!"

"Oho." Legato grinned.

"Oh yeah! It's gone out of sight! The impact will be terrific, won't it be, Boss? CRASH!"

"Suspense, suspense…" _Noir_ giggled.

"T-truly… truly terrific… OUCH!"

"The rock fell atop them!" Legato deduced.

"Bravo!" Needle Man replied.

"I'm coming closer to Earth. I'll press the slow-down button and… BY ALL THE…!" Cosmo Man's voice joined the fray.

"That's gotta be the alien." _Noir_ guessed.

"ZUM! CRASH! That IUIG-13 bastard…! He switched the acceleration and slow-down buttons AGAIN…! But whatever! I've come here! Let's go search for Earthlings! There's one over there! Heh, heh! You'll be the first one to taste the terrible power of AOUG-27! PTAF! AOUG-27 to Central Powers! You morons! When I come back I'll teach you about how true that motto of "Earthlings are skinny and silly beings" is!"

"He met an animal?" Legato tried to guess.

"A donkey."

"Heh, heh. What a _kicking_ first contact!"

"Did you see that legged worm, Boss?"

"Yeah! That's the extraterrestrial! Quick! We gotta beat it!"

"Allow me… Our village is an expert at killing slugs! It's my first time facing an extraterrestrial… It'll be a zapping moment!"

"ZAP! GLGLGLGL! XUP, XUP, XUP, XUP, XUP!"

"The alien zapped him?"

"Correct! And then formed a cocoon around him! Done! Let's go search for more!"

"Why! The thing's trapped Mortadelo inside of a cocoon! Calm down, calm down: I'm getting you outta this!"

"Heh! If this is what the humans name "gracious butterflies" then I gotta be a Paradise bird."

"Note: Mortadelo switch to a butterfly-like disguise while a vulture nearby looks on."

"Heh! Another wandering butterfly… Let's eat it!"

"Damn lizard… Brrr! It licked me!"

"Are you done with the butterfly act? Let's get back to work! We gotta think of how to get rid of the extraterrestrial!"

"Leave it up to me, Boss! Look on! CLAP! Let's run! Flee!"

"BANG! PRXXXT! FNGNGNGNGN!"

"An explosive device?"

"Truly! A TNT cartridge inside of a giant fake pear! The alien ran straight for it and was sent flying!"

"Wow! You've sent it beyond where the sun sets! How did you know it'd come for the…?"

"Piece of a cake! As much extraterrestrial as it is, a worm can't resist going to bite a pear! Mission complete, Prof! The extraterrestrial must be wandering across the cosmos eating asteroids!"

"Congratulations, you two! To celebrate it I've set these two cups of an excellent wine!"

"How kind of you!"

"By the way… Someone should check the barrel… There's something blocking the faucet and it took me two hours to fill the cups!"

"But, Mortadelo… Have you gone made? What's wrong?"

"Allow me, Boss! I know what was blocking the faucet! I do!"

"A~h! This is insubordination! I'm a commanding officer! You'll regret this!" Freeze Man complained.

"Mortadelo put a medieval knight's disguise together with the spiked mace!"

"Heh, heh! I needed it." _Noir_ grinned.

"Truly, sir."

"Alright! Quiz time! Who was the Emperor of Merton Land in the year 1955? A: Uncle Merton! B: Count Sylvius! C: Ted Baldwin!" Video Man asked.

There was a pause followed by some beeps in the background and Video Man then cleared his throat.

"Alright! Results! A: 73%! B: 12%! C: 15%! Correct answer: A!" Video Man announced the results.

"And now madness ensues!" Burner Man teased.

"Kidding! Shah, shah, shah!"

"So! What kind of guy do you expect the "Seraphs" to hire next? They have Elec, Flame and Wind insofar! What'll it be? Water? Grass? Sword? Blocking? Breaker? Heh, heh, heh!" Video Man asked.

"Good question. But I'd say Water." _Noir_ muttered.

"Maybe Grass. If they want to make them form a circle…" Legato muttered aloud.

"Well, Grass beats Elec in Net Battles… Although in _Pocket Monsters_ Grass isn't effective against Elec… Ground is…"

"True, sir. Maybe Gray Thunderbolt would like to hack his way into _Pocket Monsters Heart Golden & Soul Silver_ to replace Matis as the Gym Leader of Kuchiba City and give out the Orange Badge at who can defeat him in a Pokémon Battle?" Legato joked.

"Heh, heh, heh! I wouldn't be surprised, no sir!"

12:36 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Alright. The installation and customization are done, Umisama. Let's rock. But remember your oath."

"I know, Eisei. This power is for the Prince's sake. Maybe Fate has smiled on me given how I'm now free of that damned bitch who wanted to make of me a play-thing."

"Yeah. I know what it means, really. But let's discuss that on another day and get ready to test it out."

Eisei and Umisama were standing in the beach to the east of the Seraph HQ compound: Umisama's eyes' irises were blue and he now had an amused look to his face along with Eisei and both held their PETs upwards in their right hands: they nodded to each other and pressed the central button.

"Denpa – Henkan! Umisama Garcia, On Air!"

Similar to Eisei, a blue sphere of energy formed out of the PET and then evolved into a cocoon from which his new form emerged: Eisei whistled in admiration.

"Not bad, Blue Wave!"

Blue Wave's main color, curiously enough, wasn't blue, but a shade of silver-like white or, rather, sky-blue color.

His helmet, like all of the other "Denpa – Henkan" users, only protected the front and sides of the head while allowing his blue-tinted hair to freely flow out.

As seen from the front, the forehead of the helmet had a device mounted upon it colored metallic gray: it was built using three different parts and the central one spanning across his forehead was shaped like a climbing hill: there then was a triangle-like extensions popping upwards with an orange-like spot on the center of it close to the top: a small piece in the form of an inverted triangle extended downwards and that was where his blue transparent shades were affixed at.

The sides of the helmet were painted in that sky-blue color and had no decoration on them save for the "mizu" or "water" _kanji_ painted over the ears using silver-like ink.

The part of the helmet behind the front triangle had a fin spanning across it and until the back: the fin was divided in three parts as seen from the sides: a navy blue-colored climbing ramp line marked the middle section and the segment below it was colored in a dull gray color while the upper one used the sky blue color: a circling metallic band curved along the rear of the helmet and offered protection for the lower part of the head and the neck as well.

A metallic collar-like piece of armor was located around the base of the neck followed by the chest armor which had a metallic upper band followed by an inverted triangle-like piece of armor: the center of it had the initials "BW" set there.

The shoulder armor could be described as being the NW and NE quarters of a spheroid each having a navy blue descending ramp – like line drawn across its length: the lower edges were curved and metallic coupled together with a small square piece on the SW and SE corners of the armor as well.

The forearms' armor (starting at around the elbow and past the exposed segment of arm covered by blue "skin") was rather simple in design having just a small ramp aiming past the armor and emerging from close to the upper edge: they were colored sky-blue too while the hands also were covered in blue "skin".

His boots were also simple in design: they just had a trapeze-shaped piece of armor set vertically over the knees and one small triangle-like piece close to the star of the toes which had two small openings: it looked like it could vent off heat building up inside of the boots: the soils were plain metallic gray.

"Let's go to the Reverse Internet and grind a bit. Maybe we'll improve our IVs and EVs like we werePokémons." Gray Thunderbolt grinned.

"Good catch."

"Do you mind me tagging along?" Fighting Cyclone suddenly ran out of the compound and towards them.

"Not really."

"The more the merrier." Blue Wave grinned.

"My point exactly. Let's go!"

The three of them warped and appeared in what seemed to be a yellowish road of energy spreading towards the horizon: a rotunda had been set around the spire of the Seraph HQ from which eight roads spanning in all cardinal directions spread.

"Welcome to the Wave Roads! They act like fiber optics: they're a medium to transmit EM Wave data!" Gray Thunderbolt announced.

"Cool." Blue Wave whistled in surprise.

"Heh, heh! They rock."

"Let's pick north to get to the closest inhabited island and from there we can use our stealth camouflage to find a Plug – In port into the Cyber World: from there I know some shortcuts into the Reverse Internet and as long as we remain out of range from the "Nodes" then Golden Star won't know we were there to begin with." Gray Thunderbolt instructed.

"The Sneak Squad!" Fighting Cyclone laughed.

"Yeah. By the way, where's Netsuhonoo at?" Blue Wave suddenly remembered.

"He wanted to go to the mainland and have fun in the shopping mall by testing game demos or fishing for _manga_." Gray Thunderbolt calmly replied.

"Good. Let's rock a rock."

"Let's beat a beat."

"Let's roll a roll."

"Move!"

The group travelled northwards while they covered vast distances in a short time: they then spotted the city of Nagoya and quickly became invisible before dropping into a maze of intercrossing roads heading in several directions: they kept on climbing down until they landed close to an apartment's building roof which had a signal-boosting antenna built in there: the three of them opened their "black holes" and they quickly appeared within its Cyber World where Program – kuns were busy redirecting signals: they ignored them and opened another set of "black holes" to reappear within the Reverse Internet in the midst of the pyramid's ruins.

"Good. We're all here." Gray Thunderbolt smiled.

"Ah. So those who try to speed up evolution have come?" A voice rang out from the "skies" all of a sudden.

They all turned white and nervously looked upwards to spot Slur hovering over the spot and folding her arms while looking slightly amused, for once, at their presence: they stepped back.

"S-Slur!" Gray Thunderbolt gasped.

"F-Flame told me about that Navi…!" Fighting Cyclone muttered.

"What power…! I can feel it from here, alright, and they're just hovering there…!" Blue Wave nervously muttered.

"It would seem Vice President _Noir_ guessed right."

"What?"

"He ventured to say the next one would be Water." She made a smug smile and looked amused.

"Is t-that so?" Gray Thunderbolt nervously replied.

"But I did not come here to fight: I just want to examine you with my own eyes and form an idea of your potential… None of you would ever be able to compete with me."

"O-obviously…"

"Ah. So you had thought of it."

"T-true."

"And the one to challenge me will be your elusive leader?"

"C-correct…"

"I do not need to know any more: let us ride on this pace for the time being and new developments will eventually surface." She merely told them.

They kept on stepping back but she simply looked around them and then graciously landed on the ground while having drawn two thin yellow swords without a hilt which she gripped with her hands: the group was running by now while Slur's grin intensified.

"How foolish. They claim to be powerful and run at the sight of a powerful one… Let us hope their so-called "Leader" is more "brave" or, rather, more intelligent. Or else they shall prove to be dull. Very dull indeed. Dullness beyond what I can imagine." She amusedly muttered.

She glanced at the debris behind her and turned to look there: she swung one of the swords and split a boulder in half to reveal Search Man who had been lurking behind it.

"Sinner. Be gone from this sacred place. Or else you shall be punished for your crimes." Her voice turned icy and her glare showed intense dislike for him.

Search Man didn't hesitate and warped out of the scene while Slur spotted Shadow Man also running away as if fearing to be slaughtered alive: her mood varied again.

"Ah. Serenade. What did you see in them? I wonder. Yet… Ah. It does not matter! Everything will come to its natural conclusion sooner or later and there is no need to worry: if these flee at the mere sight of power then they cannot be that much of an eyesore. Drown in your arrogance and powerlessness… Seraphs!"

She inwardly laughed in a cold and sardonic tone of voice…


	9. Chapter 9: The Ancient Continent

**Chapter 9: The Ancient Continent**

23:44 PM (Japan Time), Thursday February the 13th…

"… WHAT THE HECK? We're supposed to patrol the museum?"

"We are. What… Are you afraid of blackness?"

"That's not it! I'm afraid that Charon will show up here! We have that dinosaur skull thing, and it fits with that stone sword and the stone _shuriken_ that have been stolen! The press said it!"

"Come on! That's some silly conspiracy theory."

_TAP!_

"W-what was that?"

"T-there!"

"A~h!"

"I knew it! I knew it!"

"That Doom would visit tonight, you mean?"

Two security guards had been discussing in front of an exhibition hall's doors when an ominous footsteps rang out: both aimed their flashlights at the west side of the corridor to spot "Charon" standing there who replied with a hint of sarcasm and using a voice distorter.

"Shoot at 'im! Stop 'im!" One of the guards yelled.

"Y-yeah! Don't come any closer!"

"I'm a sorcerer. Sorcerer Gufuu." He joked.

"DAMN YOU~!"

One of the guards shot all bullets on his service revolver but didn't make contact and were repelled by some kind of invisible barrier as well as deformed and scattered across the ground.

"That your best shot? Then… I'm going for it too!"

"Yea~rgh!"

"Mugro~w!"

"Hmpf! What useless idiots. No security can stand "Charon", not even that of Fort Knox!"

He opened the doors of the exhibition room and headed for a glass case which had a dinosaur's skull inside of it: he picked one of the plastic pillars from which the cordon was drawn and used it to shatter the exhibit thus setting off an alarm: he ignored it and picked the skull with the right hand while he drew the word "CHARON" in a piece of paper which he tossed inside of the case: he heard rushed footsteps and calmly turned to face six security guards aiming the guns at him: he merely tossed the skull towards them to distract them and quickly ran up to them: he lifted his arms and his whole body glowed with an electrical flash: the guards were knocked out while the skull hit the carpeted floor: he picked it up again and then opened a guillotine window to come out outside: he landed on the ground and then rushed to get outta the perimeter and into the nearest man-hole: some lights in adjacent buildings had been turned on and the screams of the patrol cars could be heard.

"My. What a party." He laughed.

He opened the man-hole and descended inside to immediately spot a "Dimensional Converter" waiting for him: it turned on and he was warped into a parking garage somewhere: the "DC" vanished and he chuckled as he headed for a wall behind a green Subaru and knocked on it three times before it silently slid away to the right and he came inside of the hideout while the wall closed behind him: he walked over to the room of "Dread Baron" and kneeled while offering him the skull which "Dread Baron" picked up to examine.

"Excellent. This is the third item Prince Kuroban desired. You've done splendidly, Styx. With this you've fulfilled 35 missions in 7 days. You'll go down in history as the greatest of all this. I laugh at that "Kaitou Kid" magician thief…" He laughed.

"Thank you, my lord."

08:17 AM (Japan Time), Friday February the 14th…

"… This is the DNN's morning news! Just as we feared: "Charon" stole the dinosaur skull being exhibited on Nagoya's Ancient History Museum! Eight security staff members were knocked out but are out of danger: this marks his 7th streak of robberies bringing the total number to 35! The police didn't think the connection between those three unearthed items in archaeological digs conducted across Thailand, Laos and Burma was important but it'd seem he wanted the complete set… Next is the news about turmoil in the Middle east and…"

"Enough."

Enzan shut down the TV and stretched while seemingly reflecting about what he had heard.

"Those three stolen artifacts must have some purpose." He guessed aloud.

"I researched upon it, Enzan – sama, but all suggests that they were recently unearthed. They belonged to ancient civilizations that flourished in those areas but they suddenly vanished. All research insofar suggests they were wiped out in a set of wars but they were supposed to be very advanced for their era." Blues reported.

"Hmmm… "Charon" steals them, but I'm sure the one who really is interested on them is Eisei Aaron's "_aibou_" who is at the top of the command chair. But we don't know if they want them for that "Seraph Tower" plan or for something else."

"It is rumored that those artifacts somehow generate energy. They could be used as power sources."

The TV suddenly turned on and showed nothing.

"Huh? Did I touch the TV remote by accident?" Enzan wondered while frowning.

"Enzan – sama. I have detected a Navi's signature within the TV's Cyber World." Blues reported.

"What?" Enzan was surprised.

"_Que se passe-t-il, là haut?" _A familiar soft voice asked.

"_Noir_." Enzan guessed.

"_Oui, precisément_."

"Then, the Navi inside of the TV must be Legato."

"Bravo." Legato's voice complemented along with sarcastic clapping.

"Couldn't you just contact me through my PET?" Enzan questioned.

"I wanted to pull a joke." _Noir_ replied.

"Have you found "Seraph Tower"?" Enzan asked.

"No. It's really picking on me. I looked over the old man's schematics and the thing was tens of meters tall. You may use stealth camouflage but nothing beats IR imagery. I found _nothing_." _Noir_ replied with obvious frustration on his voice.

"Hmmm… That's weird, really. It'd seem they're craftier than you thought."

"They're a bunch of mouse-and-cat fans." Legato's upper body appeared on the TV screen.

"Is that so?" Blues asked with a dull tone.

"We're keeping an eye over their island HQ as well and in the Reverse Internet. We found a new Cyber World area. It's protected by a very powerful firewall and has a jamming field all around it, so we can't get close enough to see what it is. I have a hunch, though, that it is Seraph's Tower Cyber World. It fits with the old man's schematics."

"If you could investigate the Cyber World then you may find out its real - world location." Enzan guessed.

"That's exactly it. I'll get back to business. _Au revoir_."

"See ya around, Enzan."

_Where's "Seraph Tower" at, anyway?_

09:39 AM (Japan Time)…

"… This place is too quiet… It's not good for my nerves. I'm glad I got recruited here and all but sentry duty is… no good. I'm too prone to getting startled by even the sound of a pebble hitting the floor… Get a hold of yourself, Ruthless Vine! I gotta prove to the Prince and Gray Thunderbolt that they did well on allowing me to get rid of that gang which had drawn me in and tried to make me robbery jobs or pick-pocketing…"

"Yo."

"A~h! G-Gray! Man! Don't creep in like that!"

"How's the babe?"

"Progressing! Obviously enough!"

"Sorry, sorry. Didn't want to annoy ya…"

The guy named Ruthless Vine was obviously another "Denpa – Henkan" user and his design looked like it was heavily biased on that of Blue Wave's with some differences.

The helmet design used a patch of pale green as main coloring: the forehead had been extended forward to form a triangle: this triangle had a patch colored in a lush green color coupled with two small rectangular yellow-colored slits on the bottom edges close to the metallic edge circling the prolongation and which were largely reminiscent of eyes: the "kusa" or "grass" _Kanji_ had been colored in a mud brown color on the very front of the helmet.

The rest of the helmet used that pale green coloring in a small patch above the lush green segment and in the parts near the rear: two small metallic extensions flanked the sides of the head and ended at the same level as the lower jaw: a brownish square with two triangle ends allowed for the fusion of the helmet's segment mid-way across the head and two metallic short-length lances aiming diagonally upwards extending past the head: a pair of transparent greenish shades covered his eyes the irises of which were emerald green too.

His chest armor was rather flat in contrast to Blue Wave's and the initials "RV" in a mud brown color had been set on the center: a small additional lush green plaque with a trapeze-shaped indentation on its lower edge had been attached blow the chest armor by the use of two white hexagons which also were reminiscent of eyes.

A brownish edge surrounded the neck's base and travelled irregularly across half of the shoulder armor's upper edges: it turned metallic white and ended as spikes aiming outwards right on the outer edge of the shoulders' armor: their lower half was also colored lush green and the division was set as line forming two "V" shapes on its path.

His forearms' design and his boots' design were identical to Blue Wave's save for the different coloring.

Gray Thunderbolt had sneaked behind him and scared the hell outta him before he calmed down: both then looked at a huge circular firewall encircling a metallic dome about ten meters tall: the place had been erected somewhere in the Reverse Internet given the atmosphere's coloring and the ominous silence.

"Anyway… _Aibou_… I mean… Prince Kuroban… Called. We should be on our way to the HQ. Did you spot anyone?"

"I think so… A guy who looked like a _samurai_…"

"Yamato Man… Golden Star… Heh… So he was here… No problem: let them know about this place but it'll take them a while before they can come close enough to analyze it. We'll leave some Viruses with equipped Battle Chips to fend off any curious snoopers."

"Alright…"

Both opened their "black holes" and vanished but Beta X had spotted them and he looked amused.

"Grass this time around." He reported.

"Pity. I was hoping for Breaker." Zarashe muttered back.

Both chuckled in an amused manner…

09:55 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Alright. Follow me, guys."

"Fine."

Eisei, Netsuhonoo, Kazebun, Umisama and a fifth guy walked down a corridor somewhere in the Seraph HQ.

This fifth guy was about the age and height of the other guys: his hair had been tinted green like Eisei's but it was more neatly combed than Eisei's own: his face had some marks of previous cuts and blows which hadn't totally healed yet.

His clothes consisted on a sleeveless leather jacket, a lush green sweater, a pair of slightly worn-down jeans and sneakers.

"Over here!"

Eisei opened an armored door and led them into a metallic room containing a curious device: it basically was a pyramidal platform supporting a thin metallic ring about two meters tall and having rows of monitors and other devices attached to its sides: three sets of wires extended from the base and travelled towards three pedestals in which the stolen stone objects had been set at: Kuroban was interacting with a holographic screen and giving them the back.

"Yo. _Aibou_."

"Ah. Gray and my "Elite Unit" members… Hmmm? You're the newcomer, yes… What was your name again?"

"Kisei Mutt, sir."

"True, true. Well. You must be wondering what this is about."

"With all due respect, Prince, it reminds me of the _Stargate_." Kisei said.

"_Stargate_? My bad. First-timer. Gray. Care to elucidate?"

"Well! It's a Time-Space device in the form of a ring."

"Ah! So that's why. Well! True! This thing does the same function."

"Is that so?" Netsuhonoo asked.

"Yeah! And these three things are keys on their own. They are remains of an ancient kingdom and shaped with a purpose: to store information on their atomic structure and be energized by environmental EM. Even over 4,000 years later their data hasn't deteriorated in the least. And what's this data? A frequency split in three pieces plus three-dimensional coordinates… Leading to a certain place…"

"W-whoa!" Everyone gasped.

"And now you'll see what it is!"

Kuroban interacted with the screen and a EM spectrum showed up there as well as a set of coordinates: Kuroban inputted some orders and the three pedestals began to hum: the monitors around the ring turned on and hummed too while three streams of yellow, green and red energy converged from the north, SE and SW to form a white-like mass of energy which expanded and then stopped once it reached the inner edges of the ring: the light dimmed and gave way to a vision of something.

"By all the…"

The image displayed over the energy field within the ring was something fantastic and yet unbelievable: a large top-shaped object easily hundreds of meters tall: the upper part was built in different terraces and had lots of small-sized buildings scattered through it as well as some black rock spires protruding out of it at different heights and intervals: a set of curious structures rose from the very top of the thing: the lower half was a large chunk of blackish and rough stone with no particular features whatsoever: the whole thing was _flying_ in the air and seemed to have an aura of mysterious and ancient at the same time.

"W-what's that?" The four "recruits" asked.

"The Mu Continent… Again…" Eisei muttered as if forgetting he wasn't alone: his gaze had become fixed on the object.

"The Mu Continent! But I thought it was a myth!" Umisama uttered in disbelief.

"It isn't. Oral information gets distorted over the ages and the same happened to written records: but my antecessors and Mu fought a bloody war which ended in our destruction 4,000 years ago. But my antecessors' survivors had managed to discover how to thrust masses into other planes of Time-Space and that's what they did by using their secret weapon's power which is also partly stored in these three things which they gave to bordering tribes: these tribes revered them and treated them with care over the ages until they were buried after further wars, migrations or natural catastrophes. Regarding Gray's comment, I had shown him sketches of the thing so that's why he said that."

"O~h!" The audience (save for Eisei) exclaimed.

"And now… The moment has come! Today this forbidden power shall be unleashed by our hands and only ours! This power shall ensure the rule of the "Seraphs" over this foolish world… Thanks to this powerful artifact I hold! Ultimate Orb! Materialize!"

A spheroid-like object made of circuitry boards covered by a transparent plastic-like material formed in the air: it included two bands colored black and white spanning through it from pole to pole and another band which surely was the Equator: its four corners had pieces of armor colored in red, green, blue and purple colors: it was hovering in the air.

"Reminds me of a Holocron…" Umisama ventured.

"Holocron?"

"Short for Holographic Chronicle… A fictional device capable of storing information for a long period of time and only accessible to those initiated in its arts, sometimes protected by a "gatekeeper" program which judges those who are worthy of receiving its wisdom…"

"My. How curious. This device is similar, too: it stores information and can run four programs, the "Four Heavenly Kings"… Kazebun. You proclaimed their names the other day from the "UFO" as per my orders, didn't you do?" He grinned.

"Yes, Prince."

"Good. Well! Explanations later: suffice to know that the "power" is a gigantic sculpture fitted with a power source of its own and capable of spawning other programs… Its name… Ra Mu! Those fools called it the "EM Wave God" but it's an artificial thing, not a thing they had believed in to begin with…" He laughed.

"Eh… Sorry to cut, but… The sooner the better, right?"

"Yeah, Gray. My bad. This thing can only keep the gateway open for a max of 100 minutes so let's hurry up. Denpa – Henkan time."

"And Prince Kuroban…?"

"Me? I've always been in Denpa – Henkan to begin with." He shrugged his shoulders.

"O~h!" Everyone sounded awed.

"Go!"

"Roger, sir! Denpa – Henkan! On Air!"

The five of them transformed and Kuroban walked up to the energy field which he touched and it rippled as it was water: he stepped inside and vanished.

"It's alright. I'm inside of their Temple. Come in!"

"Roger!"

The other five stepped through the field and ended up inside of a large dome-shaped building the ceiling of which consisted on a set of golden-colored columns of brass intercrossing and climbing forming the skeleton of a tower: but what got their attention was what was placed on a large alcove built within the far wall of the room, which, incidentally, was exposed to the grayish skies threatening with storm: the room was very worn down but its structural integrity wasn't affected much: there were, however, remains of fighting there as evidenced by blood stains and rusted lances, swords, bows, arrows, helmets, sheaths and so scattered at random across the room: the five members looked slightly nervous at the panorama while Kuroban walked on forward.

"There! Witness!"

He signaled what was in the alcove: some kind of gigantic statue easily four to five meters tall.

Its head was shaped like a cone and had two yellow diamond-shaped "eyes" plus a vertical band running down the center of the face yet no nose or mouth: two grayish halves of a pyramid had been set at both sides of the band: a greenish cap with a spike protruding from it was set atop its head as well.

The shoulders were mere square boxes with a long spike protruding from the sides and three shorter ones coming out from the upper surface while aiming upwards: the arms were just some dull yellow rings of energy set in a row while the hands had only four fingers to it.

The rest of the body formed a pyramid's shape: the outer edges had spikes protruding out of it and aiming upwards along with some square boxes: a large black slab with reddish glyphs engraved around the whole of its perimeter served as chest.

The thing had no legs but a pedestal of the same type of stone having two small white stains close to the center.

Overall, its mere presence radiated power.

"Ra Mu…! I can actually feel its power from 3 meters away!" Raging Flame muttered.

"And we're gonna wake this thing up…!" Blue Wave gasped.

"Will it be alright, Prince?" Ruthless Vine asked.

"Should we shield you, Prince?" Fighting Cyclone asked next.

"Don't worry. He's surely thought of everything." Gray Thunderbolt tried to calm them down.

"True. You should inspect the chambers close to this place in case there's something fishy or some fail-safe: they could've found another way to come in and out. Go!"

10:27 AM (Japan Time)…

BRRRO~M!

… _Hmmm?_

BRRRO~M!

MUGRU~H!

… _Impossible…_

"Hah, hah, hah!"

… _Damn it…_

"… And beating the bush I go with my stick…"

… _Intruders…!_

"Nothing here…"

_Damn! They're getting closer… The echoes… I have about two minutes' time to get out of here… Ugh! That's the price to pay for being in this thing for four years…_

"And nothing 'ere either 'cause Uncle Moriarty scares 'em all…"

_Quick! _

"… Nothing as in nothingness of life…"

_Almost there!_

BRRRO~M!

MUGRO~H!

"Oh man. I guess the thing isn't happy to wake from a 4,000 year slumber and now I'm glad not to be there."

… _Almost there… Almost there… Good! Out!_

"Another room…"

_To hide! Quick!_

Gray Thunderbolt walked upon a chamber having some cylindrical capsule-like objects arranged in rows and columns: they looked like they had some kind of fluid on the inside: he tried touching one and was mildly surprised to see that his hand rippled through it as if it was a veil of water and not a solid object.

"Cool. Too bad I never got to get inside of this place _back there_. That guy happened to have it brought down while big bro was trying to keep me at bay. And shortly after that THE incident happened… And then _aibou_ came and recruited me for his plans… Heh, heh, heh! I'm so lucky! Too bad, big bro and company, 'cause ya can't do anything 'bout it!" He laughed.

_What's that man talking about? But that's "Denpa – Henkan", so someone has recreated it during these four years I've been sleeping here as per the trials… And someone has led this man here… Someone who knows how to awaken Ra Mu and is on the process of doing so! These tremors and growls can only mean that! But… How? The On'Setsu dogs hid the keys and we never found them. Our only manner of coming in and out of here has been during the periods in which the synchronism between "normal" Time-Space and "this" Time-Space falls out and "cracks" open: we can predict when they happen not unlike you can know when an eclipse will happen, the positions of the planets and periods of comets. At least I managed to come out just in time to hide in this corner. I should try to make my way to the Temple and see what's going on…_

"Flame! What's the status? Over!"

"Nothing. Just some Denpa Viruses. Over."

"This is Wave. I found some reliefs which seemingly tell some tale but I can't decipher them. Guess the Prince can. Over."

"Oi, guys… Are you sure the place won't collapse? With all these tremors and all…"

"Don't be a chicken, Vine."

"Speak for yourself, Cyclone!"

"Alright, guys… Don't fight."

"Fine! But I insist that…"

"…and you always are too worrywart!" Fighting Cyclone grumbled.

"Hmpf! "Always", you say? I've been only been in the business ever since yesterday!" Ruthless Vine argued.

"Stop it or _aibou_ will get mad at us!" Gray Thunderbolt grumbled.

"Che!"

"I'll remember this!"

"Jeez. And now everything backfires on me?" He rolled his eyes.

_Prince! The current descendant of the On'Setsu…! We've long suspected they've continued the bloodline by disguising and never doubting to switch nations or class so as to hide in a more efficient manner…! _

BRRRO~M!

NUWRUGRA~H!

"Oi! _Aibou_! Are you alright?"

"Well…" He trailed off.

"What happened?" Gray Thunderbolt asked.

"The thing's got firewalls." He admitted.

"And it wants to turn you into dust?" Gray Thunderbolt guessed.

"In essence."

_Hmpf! So you didn't foresee it! How foolish!_

"Need help?"

"Don't worry: it's so rusted that it takes 2 minutes to articulate the whole right arm. It's slower than a snail by now. And I've cut through 95% of those firewalls. I expect to install my control program on it within 56 seconds…" He replied back.

_Shit. Going up there is suicide by now. I'm not that idiotic._

"Alright, guys! Up we go!"

"OK!"

Gray Thunderbolt warped and the figure quickly drew some kind of device into which it inputted some commands before apparently warping in an invisible manner to appear into the "Temple" where he was just in time to see Ruthless Vine come out through a white circle of energy displaying an image of the room: the figure waited for about six minutes before drawing the device and holding up in front of the "gateway" while at the same time interacting with some kind of software.

_I know a quiet place I visited 4 years ago out of curiosity because so many incidents seemed to be happening close to it or around it: Densan City. It'll be my temporary hideout. I found a place back then and I hope it's still empty… I wonder if they found that Net Navi Rock Man in the end after the destruction of that "Super Cybeast", a pair of months before I came into Mu and began cold sleep… I'll have to get my software up to date because so many versions must've come out in these 4 years…_

The "gateway" shifted to show what seemed to be an underground room somewhere: the figure quickly ran in and then interacted with the "gateway" again to close it: the figure then sat on the ground and leant the back against the wall while browsing through the menus.

_Indeed. A LOT of updates are pending. Let's start working on them but I want to figure out what's happened during these 4 years… Ah! So Rock Man EXE reappeared on summer, 2008… He and Blues EXE had a mighty duel before Rock Man EXE retired: he has not taken part in any active battling ever since then… Starting a year ago, more or less, an organization named "Golden Star" began to rise and now has evolved into a necessary organization to bring stability… And there are now rumors of some terrific group named the "Seraphs" responsible for an increase in crime, some horrific murders and an unstoppable thief! I guess these are the guys who I saw a while ago… Fine. But! This is but the start of a new war between the Mu Empire and the On'Setsu Kingdom!_

The figure formed a scary grin and chuckled under its breath…


	10. Chapter 10: Broken illusion

**Chapter 10: Broken illusion**

08:37 AM (Japan Time), Saturday February the 15th…

"… How odd."

"What is odd, Laika – sama, sir?"

Laika was examining a computer within a workspace of the Net Police's HQ building and frowning.

"All data related to the members of both Golden Star and the Seraphs has been copied. However… I cannot find how the perpetrator got inside to begin with… The firewalls are intact and the Navis who are in charge of security haven't reported anything out of place." Laika commented as he typed into the computer.

BLAM, BLAM, BLAM!

"Oh. Don't tell me it's who I think it is." Laika made a grimace.

"This is the Net Police! Open up or we'll force the door open with a battering ram!"

"Superintendent Oda. The Net Police is not a bunch of European middle ages barbarians." Laika hissed.

The door opened and Oda stepped in while smiling.

"Hullo, Laika – kun! Have you seen Ijuuin – kun around?"

"No."

"Oh. That's a pity. I wanted to tell him about my good old friend, the cousin of the…" Oda began, smiling.

SLAM!

"Why! Laika – kun sure has temper for a military man! Let's try to find someone else to whom I can tell this… By Merton! I'm sure that he's still obsessed with his conspiracies… Well! No big deal…"

He chuckled under his breath…

08:49 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Phew. I found some Cyber Money and procured some food so let's get down to going over the data I collected from my short visit to the Net Police's Cyber CID computer… "That" still works and I managed to do it pretty well: their security wasn't designed to prevent someone from the _inside_ looking it up. Hah! Talk about laziness."

The figure who'd come out of the Mu Continent entered the basement room and opened a window to let some light inside thus illuminating his body.

He was a young man around twenty five years old or above.

His hair was white and unkempt given how it formed a bundle aiming for every direction downwards and there was no sense of order or manners in there.

His irises' color was blood red and he currently looked somewhat smug and arrogant.

Other traits on his face were red facial marking trailing down his right cheek starting from below his right eye and which was reminiscent of a thunderbolt: two golden earrings evoking some tradition or culture were clipped to his ears.

He wore one custom-made bodysuit the primary color of which was jet black and which was a combination of a sleeveless sweater, a normal sweater and baggy pants which also served as shoes.

The suit had linear cyan patterns proceeding from around his stomach to the tips of his feet: the sleeves, however, were colored in a dust-like brown colored and ended in orange-colored cuffs.

Woven across the chest was a crest like colored yellow which could be described as two opposing halves of a square with a line climbing down from their SE and SW edges: this line connected with another heading towards the left and then ran diagonally towards the center of the chest: a small square dot was set in the middle of the space between both parallel and mirrored drawings.

"I am Solo… Current descendant of the guardians of Mu… I've been sleeping for four years but our vigilance proceedings were flawed and Ra Mu has fallen into the hands of the current On'Setsu Kingdom heir who has also managed to recreate the "Ultimate Orb" and our "Denpa – Henkan" technology…" He muttered.

He then sat on the corner and took out a package of cookies from a plastic bag which he began to eat while he looked at data from a Link PET colored purple and gray.

"Hmmm… So! The "Seraphs" are indeed the guys from yesterday. Leader: unknown. Well. Guess I'll call the man "Heir" for the time being. Then there are the "Denpa - Henkan" users… Gray Thunderbolt AKA Eisei Aaron, which seems to be the first of them and the one "recruiting" the others which have just started this same week… Raging Flame, Fighting Cyclone, Blue Wave and Ruthless Vine are the other four but their human IDs are unknown for the time being… There seem to be two agents in charge of distracting public attention which are a robot named "Dullahan" and a thief named "Charon"… Hum, hum. I see."

He munched another four cookies and then resumed reading while looking slightly interested.

"Hum… Golden Star… Slur: nothing can come close to even scratching that Net Navi and even that wild and untamed Forte was beaten by his own power shot back at him! Your own power shot back at you with its polarity reversed… Now: that's some strategy! That Slur sure knows where most guys' weaknesses lie in! Then there's this Andy young man with this "Ryuusei Form" used only four times insofar. Hum, hum. This is very intriguing, really… I should go explore the "Reverse Internet" a bit to see what I can find…"

He finished his cookies and stretched before picking the Link PET and walking out of the basement and into the street: he formed a smug smile as he looked at the clear blue skies.

_Heir of the On'Setsu! I'll settle the score between our tribes sooner or later once I find out your name… Be ready!_

08:57 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Secret… I'm one of the few to know the secret… I'll protect it no matter what… It's been almost 9 months… But I've kept it and I don't know who else knows it but I'm sure than in total it's less than, say, 15 persons, I think…"

"Hikawa Tooru – kun? You look troubled. Desu."

"Huh? Ah! Well… Don't mind me, Ice Man."

A young guy had been working on what looked like homework inside of a small bedroom when he began to mutter aloud and a Navi's voice called out for him, making him snap out of his dazed state.

"Let's see… Oh. I'm almost done, yeah… These problems aren't terribly complicated, after all."

Hikawa Tooru was a young man around Netto's and Enzan's age and who could be slightly shorter in height than them.

He had short and combed brown chestnut hair and chestnut brownish irises as well.

He sported a yellowish jumper with a hood and a front side pocket plus a pair of jeans and slippers.

His Link PET was colored using a bluish shade and had the drawing of a snow flake against a blue background as emblem.

"That's good. Desu."

The Navi known as Ice Man seemed to be barely one meter and forty tall: he wore _Eskimo_ – like clothes colored lush green and forest green: his gloves were colored brown and so were his boots.

His eyes were brown and he had a small nose: two patterns colored pink and shaped like seashells: his head was surrounded by the parka's own hood as if to shield it from the cold.

He carried a small backpack colored brown and with his emblem drawn into it as well.

"What's that secret you were talking about? Desu."

"Ah! Eh… Well… Nothing important, really."

"Really?"

"Really!"

"Something feels wrong. Desu." He looked worried.

"Nothing's wrong, I say."

"Then what's the secret?"

"I can't tell you: I promised to a friend I'd keep it."

"Oh. It's a very important secret? Desu?" Ice Man deduced.

"Yeah. Sorry. But a promise is a promise." He sighed.

"Then Ice Man won't press the matter. Desu."

"Thank you."

Hikawa finished his homework and then looked at a framed photo which looked like a class' graduation day photo: the banner "Year 1 A&B Graduation Day, Course 2008-2009" was posted on the underneath and amongst the students there was a familiar face: Kage Miquel.

_Kage – kun… I know you're dedicating your time and energies to a better cause but I can't help but recall how we met again back then… It was a bit dramatic, but, well… You keep on being my classmate and a good friend no matter what. I know you can overcome anything and that you and Andy make an excellent combination… Hey! If you could blow up that UFO then I dunno if there's something you can't do._

"… Eh… Tooru – kun. Desu. There's a mail which asks if "Uncle Merton & Moran" are going to beat "Uncle Moriarty". Desu… What should I reply? Desu."

"Well… I'm not sure, really. Guess they are. But those titles ring a bell somewhere… Anyway… I'm sure that it's nothing important. Today is going to be a nice day… Or not…"

09:15 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Akemi – san? Are you in here? Can you answer me?"

Andy was walking along a large rock platform floating within the vastness of the Reverse Internet: he could spot a "node" about ten meters to the right but otherwise the area was pretty barren and devoid of life to begin with: Andy stopped and looked around while frowning.

"That's weird. Suzuki – san's email clearly stated that Akemi – san had been assaulted by some unknown Navis while working at the DNN Station and that they'd fled into this area of the Reverse Internet. What do you make out of it? Miquel – kun?"

There was no response and Andy was surprised so he opened a holographic screen and found it to be filled with static: he tried to push some buttons but nothing happened.

"Fuck. Someone's jammed the line. Maybe I should try to go to the "node" and set off the proximity alarms so that Zero comes over and we can try to fix this together…"

"Heh, heh, heh."

"Who…?"

"Plant Weed!"

Some weeds formed out of the air and suddenly coiled around Andy's arms, legs and neck while spreading his limbs open and lifting him from the ground: he tried to pull at them but they only formed thorns and dug deeper into his skin: he let out no noise but it was clear that he was fighting the pain.

"Fuck them all! Plant Man! You fucking bastard!"

"Oh. So you've heard of me!" Plant Man showed up in front of him while having a smug smile.

"Legato told me about that you did to my companion back in the summer but I know he deleted you! So how…?"

"Oi! Don't forget the great me."

"Shit. Beast Man!"

"Mwah, hah, hah! The great me in person!"

Beast Man dropped into the area too and Andy was annoyed by now: he tried to do something but that something apparently didn't work which led to him to curse something under his breath.

"I've locked up the "R-Program"! Now you're powerless!"

"Oh yeah? How about this then?"

"What?"

"SALAMANDER!"

"Damn! I forgot about the Battle Chips!"

"Crap!"

"HRA~H!"

Andy was surrounded by flames and burn the weeds before climbing upwards while forming the image of a dragon before diving towards both of them thus setting the ground on flames: both roared but Beast Man managed to withstand the heat and suddenly warped to drive his claws into Andy's chest emblem: he opened his eyes wide but he merely pulled them out, gripped Beast Man's right forearm and began to whip him around before throwing him forward to crash with Plant Man: both ended up in the floor while Andy was panting and had an almost psychotic look to him.

"Che…" He managed to mutter.

He suddenly collapsed face-down on the ground while his body was surrounded by golden and silver –colored energy which formed a cocoon around him: the colors shifted to yellow and cyan blue before it started to dissipate.

"What!" Both uttered.

A very different Net Navi was now lying on that spot: Rock Man EXE himself was.

"R-Rock Man!" Plant Man uttered.

"Oh! I remember this guy from the island battle, yeah… But I thought the guy had called it quits?"

"… I see! I see! Mwah, hah, hah, hah!" Plant Man suddenly exploded into maniacal laughter.

"What?" Beast Man didn't seem to catch up.

"Are you dumb?" Plant Man looked annoyed by now.

"Wha~t?" He growled.

"Who was there?" He questioned.

"That Andy brat." Beast Man shrugged.

"And who's there now?" He asked next.

"That Rock Man brat… Oi! Wait a min, ya!" He realized.

"No, no… There's no need to discuss…" Plant Man grinned again.

"But isn't that… Impossible?" He argued.

"Not for Golden Star!"

"Man. So that Rock Man brat could transform into Andy…? But… Wasn't Andy a different guy to begin with?"

"Someone must've stood for him and created the illusion and record and then Rock Man stepped on his place… I now see why that Legato guy was so enraged back in the summer… I'm sure they're lovers and he was filled with rage at seeing how I was having fun with his lover…"

"Yikes." Beast Man sounded scared, for once.

"You want to do something useful? Break that thing which claims to be unbreakable." Plant Man brusquely signaled the "node" device nearby while looking bored.

"Oh yeah! There's nothing I can't break!"

"And now, Rock Man… Let's continue where we left off! I'm sure Beast Man must've hit your program which allows you to shape forms and IDs hence why you reverted… Heh, heh, heh! Plant Weed!"

The weeds coiled around the unconscious Rock Man and lifted him while Plant Man moved closer and suddenly tore his bodysuit's front out to begin playing with his nipples.

"Mwah, hah, hah… I'll turn you into my pet…"

"Eat this! Jumping Claw… Impossible!"

"Hmmm?"

Plant Man glanced at Beast Man and saw that he'd tried hitting the "node" but he broke his whole right claw without landing as much as a single scratch: Beast Man got a twitch over his left eye and tried with the other claw but had no better results.

"Fuck them all! I guess this thing _is_ unbreakable!"

"Impossible!" Plant Man grumbled.

"Didn't ya say nothing's impossible for these guys?"

"Well…"

"Yeah. Nothing is impossible. But that's as far as you come: go back to the pit you came outta from. This info won't go anywhere as long as I'm around to see to it. Hrah!"

"Mugro~h!"

"Damn it! Time to flee…"

"YOU BASTARD AGAIN!"

"Fuck!"

"DIE, DIE AND DIE~! HRA~H! NEO VARIABLE SWORD! EAT THIS! AND THIS! AND THIS OTHER! YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"

"Ugrough!"

"Uh-unh…"

"Saito – kun! My Saito – kun! Hang in there! Are you hurt! Ah! The chest emblem! You're leaking data! No good… But we can fix you in _Noir_ – sama's computer…!"

"What happened…?"

Zero had suddenly appeared right in front of Beast Man and driven a metallic sword through his chest thus deleting him: Plant Man gasped and tried to run but was met with the terribly angered Legato who drew the Neo Variable Sword Battle Chip and cut Plant Man into pieces vertically, horizontally and diagonally thus deleting him too: he then crouched and carefully lifted Rock Man, or, rather, Saito, from the ground just as he was starting to wake up.

"Huh… Ah! Those two…!"

"Deleted."

"Ah! This is my normal form…! They found out my secret…!"

"What secret?" Zero wondered.

"Well…"

"Wait a min. I thought it was Andy who'd come here. Where's the guy, anyway…? Unless… You and Andy… You're the same guy?"

"… Yeah. It's a complicated tale. We didn't want to lie to you, Zero. But the lesser people know this, the better. It's a very risky position but I knew the risks from the start…"

"Wait. So Kage Miquel is…?"

"Ah! At last! Communications restored! What's going there?" Netto's face suddenly showed up with the holographic screen.

"Hikari Netto…? And that signal comes from _Noir_'s uplink… So you're Kage Miquel at the same time?"

"Ah! Zero… Well… Yeah. Complicated tale. Maybe we'll tell it to you one day but… Please. Keep it secret. Can I ask that favor out of you? I know we're supposed to dig out secrets, but this one is too important and complicated…" He sighed.

"I'll bring him back to the room… Let's fix this first."

"Damn Plant Man! He was trying to rape me again?"

"Obviously. But I split the bastard in pieces."

"Well… I'll fix the "node" and go back. We should pretend that nothing happened to begin with."

"Yeah. Or else all of our efforts stretching back from summer of 2008 will have been in vain…" Legato warned.

Saito repaired his bodysuit and warped out along with Legato while Zero examined the "node" and sighed.

"What madness." He finally muttered.

He warped out but at that moment a figure landed on the ground close to the spot where the incident had happened.

"Hmpf. What lowlifes!"

The newcomer wore a helmet which had been painted using a black and red color-scheme: it was a partial guard given how it revealed his hair in its entirety: the hair which was flying straight upwards in a wild and chaotic manner.

The helmet too bore a pair of transparent purple shapes and having the shape of the Alphabet letter "X" which seemed to be layered across his helmet while his throat was guarded by a silver neck-guard, somewhat similar to a gorget: his ear-pads were small greenish domes.

He wore a smooth and plain black cat suit which began at his jaw line with Ra Mu's emblem drawn over his chest while now being colored in a crimson red color: the catsuit ran uninterrupted along each limb until reaching the elbows and knees.

Starting from those spots, and, with the exception of his right arm, they were further covered in solid-looking black armor: and this black armor was further alloyed with a red slotted coil with a single red spine forming around the left wrist plus the feet ankles.

He also bore two knobbed spaulders made of what seemingly was the same material over his shoulders to protect them.

His right arm, by comparison, bore a thick black bracelet circling around the wrist: it turned his right fist and forearm into a mass of burning purple flames the brightness of which was constantly shifting.

He was holding a sword on his right hand which had a reddish hilt with yellowish ends: the blade had an indentation running across most of its height which began as a thin cone-like form, spread into a circle having a greenish dot in the middle, and ended close to the edge: the blade was shaped like a trapeze with diagonal sides and had some grade of thickness to it unlike _katana_ or normal swords.

"What inferior Net Navis! Resorting to vile tricks… They make the blood of Mu's Burai boil! Yet… I'm surprised. Rock Man EXE and Andy: they were the same person… And the same went for Hikari Netto and Kage Miquel: they were the same the same person too! So someone had to step in their place before and lay the ground… Maybe that enigmatic "_Noir_" and Legato did it even… Well. If they had a noble reason to do it which I suspect they do then it ain't my business. My business is with the "Seraphs" and the On'Setsu Heir…" He muttered while caressing his lower jaw with the left hand.

He sighed and distractedly tapped the ground with the sword while looking around and then jumped back upwards into another platform while he ran across it and began to fight some Viruses by quickly swinging the sword and cutting them up.

"Out of the way."

He kept on fighting Viruses while apparently concentrating.

_I'll grow stronger. And I'll defeat you: my foe!_

09:33 AM (Japan Time)…

"… So… He'll be alright, Oriol?"

"His wounds were lesser."

"Thank goodness…"

"Yeah. Thankfully there was the "node" close by…"

"Kuroshiro Oriol… I'm always indebted to you. Really."

"This isn't being indebted, Netto – kun. It's friendship."

"Guess so…"

Netto (sporting Kage's usual clothes save for the bandana and the sunglasses) was sitting on a chair inside of a bedroom having a king-sized bed, a cupboard on the NW corner, an entrance door on the SW corner, a connecting door on the west wall, and a round wooden table on the SE corner: his chair was placed next to the chair which had a laptop placed atop its surface.

The guy Netto had called Kuroshiro Oriol, had a youthful face which didn't look like it was older than fifteen or sixteen years old: its profile was plain and wasn't anything out of the ordinary and his eyes' irises were of a navy blue color.

His clothes were quite plain: a black wool jumper, fingerless gloves, jeans with a black leather belt and a pair of black socks coupled with black sneakers.

He was two to three inches taller than Netto and his face was highly reminiscent of that of Kage.

"But I owe it all to you… I'd lost all passion in life back then, in the summer of 2008… But when you appeared on the institute and we began our secret meetings and all… It brought new life to me and Saito – niisan, it really did."

"Of course. All I've done has been for you and Saito's sakes, Netto – kun, my friend." He smiled.

"Thanks again."

"Don't mind it."

Netto's Link PET (his blue one with the Hikari emblem on it set to the right of a golden and silver one with Andy's emblem) began to ring and he quickly picked it up: Yuuichirou's face appeared on it.

"Papa!"

"Netto. Any news on "Seraph Tower"?"

"Not really. We've located the Cyber World control site but it's heavily defended and we're running attacking simulations to make sure we don't damage anything while trying to come closer to the place."

"Hmmm? What's that?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"That golden ring."

"What golden…? Oh! This? Well…" Netto gasped and looked at a golden ring with the initials "K. O." written on it using silver pain.

"You wouldn't have happened to engage Sakurai – kun, right?"

"What? Engage Meiru? Wrong! This is purely ornamental."

"Somehow I'm not convinced. If it's purely ornamental as you say then why had you never shown it to us?"

"To avoid this kind of misunderstandings…"

"Netto. Be honest with me. This involves my duties as your father."

"I'm not gonna get married to anyone! Come on! I'm not even 16 years old yet!"

"Engage doesn't mean to get married. It means you have the _intention_ to get married in the future."

"Papa! Come on! This is the 21st century! If I wanna wear a nice ring which doesn't mean anything then what's the problem?"

"Do excuse me for butting in, Hikari – hakase, sir, but I think I should shed some light on this, sir." Kuroshiro joined the conversation.

"Kuroshiro – kun? You know something?"

"Well, I do, sir." He admitted as he showed a silver ring with the golden initials "K. M." on it.

"Wait a minute… KM… Kage Miquel… KO… Kuroshiro Oriol…"

"Yeah. That's what they mean. There, satisfied?" Netto grumbled while looking annoyed.

"But, sir, I assure to you that they're only intended to be our private acknowledgment of our bond, sir. And, sir… It is the 21st century: there is no law which forbids someone from seeking their path in life, is there, sir?" Kuroshiro argued.

"… You're right. Alright. I'll drop the matter."

There was a knock on Yuuichirou's side of the line.

"Who is it?"

"Laika, sir."

"Wait a minute. I'm finishing a call."

"Roger, sir."

"We'll talk later. Send me any info on the tower if you manage to analyze it. Later."

"Good morning, sir."

"See ya, Papa."

The line was disconnected and both sighed in relief: Kuroshiro quickly ran over to the laptop and inputted some commands to bring on a live camera feed displaying Laika from above and behind entering into Yuuichirou's office.

"Good morning, Laika – kun."

"Good morning, sir. Do we have any update on the "Seraphs"?" Laika saluted.

"No. I'm expecting them sooner or later but as for the time being… I've heard that the press had drawn some connection between some of the stolen items but it wasn't taken much seriously…"

"Is that so?"

"Let me look for it… Here: three archaeological items… A stone sword, a stone _shuriken_ and a petrified dinosaur's skull…"

"Hum. And they all come from the same region."

"Maybe they plan on selling them to illegal collectors for a fortune and they can brag of having the three-piece set?"

"True. Sometimes some art pieces come in sets and their value and prestige is increased if the whole set is gathered…"

"Hello there, my folk!" Oda's cherry voice suddenly rang out as he strolled into the room.

"Oh no."

"No good."

"What should we do, Laika – sama?"

"Uncle Moriarty just sent me a message."

"The "Seraphs" did?" Laika gasped.

"It says this: "when a foam-covered figure shows up on your threshold then it's gotta be an alien or so M thinks."…"

"M?" Laika wondered.

"… I'm afraid that's another _Mortadelo y Filemón_ joke." Yuuichirou seemed to guess.

"So it's a way of laughing at us." Laika got annoyed.

"I'm afraid so."

"… I see." He apparently was going to swear but he seemingly thought it'd be bad manners so he improvised along the way.

"Oho! Now it's a phone call. Hello~?"

"Yo. Uncle Merton's nephew. Uncle Moriarty's nephew here: speakin' free of charge thanks to Steve Wozniak's blue box!"

"Steve Wozniak?" Netto wondered.

"It rings a bell… Let's try Wikipedia. Here. Ah! I see. The co-founder of Apple Inc. along with Steve Jobs…"

"And what's that blue box thing?"

"Some device they invented to hack the phone lines in Ameroupe and get calls free of charge…" Kuroshiro summed up.

"Hmpf… He's being smart." Netto formed a smug smile.

"So it'd seem, Watson, so it'd seem." Kuroshiro joked.

"Alright! Hey! Dude! Serve me a mug of beer with plenty of foam!"

"Yes, sir…"

"Cleanse this foam sea, you moron! Professor Von Iatum is about to come by now!"

"Well… Alright… But it wasn't worth it… It'd disappeared on its own 'cause it's bio-degradable beer and… Ah! The invaders, Boss! An extraterrestrial has reached this place! But this is as far as it comes! Heh, heh! THUD! The Professor will be glad! I'll wrap it for present with a lace and all, even… Good! Wake up, cha! The Professor's gotta be close by!"

"What in the…" Laika cursed.

"Truly! VERY CLOSE BY!"

"P-P-P-Professor!"

"I'm hearing an engine's noise… hic… I got inside of a truck again?"

"I'll give you beer!"

"Oho. So the "Martian" was the professor, eh?" Netto guessed while muffling his laughter.

"Help! Get me outta 'ere! I'm drowning! Gl, gl, gl, gl…!"

"Hear that, Uncle Merton's nephew? The Professor shut Mortadelo inside of a barrel filled with Dutch Beer!"

"Amusing, by Merton."

"Eisei Aaron! Speak!" Laika snapped at him.

"Well! Let's get to work… An "UFO" is coming up from the ninth galaxy counting upwards and to the left! You gotta go trail it with the "Air-Interceptor One" and destroy it!"

"I h-had to… drink all of it… hic… all of it!"

"The "Air-Interceptor" is equipped with a rocket-projectile for these kinds of situations… Go and good luck!"

"I didn't mean that! Where's "Seraph Tower" at?"

"In your imagination, St. Clair!"

"I'm not named St. Clair!"

"Uncle Moriarty says so."

"I couldn't care less!"

"Beware, Laika, beware. My _aibou_ is someone with noble blood running across his veins and wouldn't like to know his honor is being sullied by some foreign serviceman." He icily warned.

"Huh! The last thing I needed…!"

"And by Uncle Moriarty I mean my imagination. He's unrelated 'cause he's busy enough with the job it takes to supervise all operations and such being executed there and there."

"So where's "Seraph Tower" at?"

"Hmmm… Maybe Hugh Boone knows…"

"Hugh Boone! Search Man! Run a search!"

"Roger, Laika – sama."

"Did you hear? "Air-Interceptor" and "Rocket-Projectile"!"

"Oh yeah! Like in sci-fi movies…! Grrr… "Air-Interceptor One"… Bloody them! And have a look at the "Rocket-Projectile"… Something ripped from some rural fireworks party!"

"Attention! "UFO" spotted! Activate the "Rocket-Projectile"!"

"You meant to say I gotta light the fuse, right? Bye!"

"Let's hope it meets the target…"

"We'll soon see the explosion and we'll know… BANG! Well, not, it didn't meet the target…"

"Phil! Gimme a bin to cleanse the well!"

"OK!"

"ZUM! CLONG! Wait, you…! I'll thank you! GRMBFLJ!"

"B-but… I… I didn't… Run for it!"

"What in the…"

"The "Air-Interceptor One" was a garbage bin with a balloon! When the rocket met them instead the bin fell into the well where a guy was working and merged with him so he began to chase Phil 'cause he thought it was some prank!" He laughed.

"I'm fed up with this." Laika hissed.

"Who isn't?" Yuuichirou sighed.

"Oho. The famous Hikari – hakase… You must be wishing to be able to examine our tech, right?" Eisei teased.

"Who knows?" He drily shot back.

"No offense, really. It's thanks to the PETs that we can do this."

"I suppose."

"… Laika – sama: Hugh Boone is a character in a short Sherlock Holmes story titled the "Man with the twisted lip" included within the volume of "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes"…"

"You've led us to a blind alley then!"

"Bravo, Holmes."

"Che."

"Oi! Eisei! Do you think the Boss is… well… unbalanced?"

"What, Flame? Unbalanced? Why do you say that?"

"Well, I was in my balcony, three doors down the corridor when I saw him swinging a piece of the handrail like it was an sword and acting like he was beating someone to death with it while yelling "damned traitor" and "damned fool" and "damned Demon"…"

"Maybe he's had an assassination attempt before…" Eisei apparently didn't find it odd.

"You mean that you've seen that behavior before?"

"Yeah. But I didn't ask because it's not my place to stick my nose in things which don't concern my orders, Flame."

"You could've warned me!"

"Did you need to know that to survive? No, right? Go salmon."

There was a grumbling sound in the background while all listeners looked surprised at the new piece of information.

"Anyway. Guess I'm over-charging so I'm off. And my protocol is constantly shifting and masking so there's no easy cracking for it: enjoy the party, my fellow conspirers." He laughed.

The line went dead but Kuroshiro and Netto were smiling.

_No little tricks will shatter our resolve!_


	11. Chapter 11: The London Vampire

**Chapter 11: The London Vampire**

08:27 AM (Japan Time), Sunday February the 16th…

"… Eh… Sorry to bother you, _aibou_, but…"

"I know you wouldn't bother me unless it was important, Gray."

"You see… Two days ago, inside of the Mu Continent…"

"Did you see something?"

"Well… There were all those hibernation-like capsules…"

"Yes. And?"

"Well… I dunno why but I had a weird feeling… Like someone had been watching at me…"

"Maybe it was a Virus."

"Y-yeah, I thought as much but… My sensors are supposed to warn me if a Virus tries to sneak on me…"

"Maybe it was quiet and not doing anything hence why they didn't pick it up to begin with."

"I know I'm sounding silly, but… Could we have a quick look? There was something queer with that chamber."

"Fine. No harm will come from that. Did you hear of yesterday's mission, anyway?"

"What mission? Charon's?"

"No. Dullahan's."

Eisei had come into the throne room to speak with Kuroban who looked up from the holographic screen: Eisei looked somewhat troubled while Kuroban was calm.

"Eh… What was it again?"

"Use Beast Man and Plant Man to try to seize Andy…"

"Seize Andy? Those two?" He sounded skeptical.

"Well. Yes. But it'd seem they picked a bad spot and were overwhelmed very fast… No big deal, though. I wasn't betting too much on that: I wanted to give it a shot but nothing will change. "Seraph Tower" will be ready next weekend." He replied.

"Alright. Could we drop by for 5 minutes and check it out before heading back?"

"It that'll ease your mind…"

Both headed over to the portal-generating machine and didn't spot Burai being hidden in a corner using some kind of camouflage system to hide his figure.

_Chance._

"Alright… Denpa – Henkan! Eisei Aaron, On Air!"

Eisei became Gray Thunderbolt just as the portal turned on: both stepped in followed by the invisible Burai: they headed into the hall with the capsules and Kuroban began to study them.

"I'd heard reports of these. Maybe that "Twilight" man designed his own system which we both used based on these… Or maybe he just got inspired from sci-fi movies…" He muttered.

"But… They're empty, right?"

"Of course."

"They don't have Viruses or something like that inside, right?" Gray Thunderbolt nervously asked.

"Well. Not at the present but it's a possibility…"

"This place gives me the creeps."

"Your imagination is running unchecked."

"Are you sure something won't fall down from the blackness above us and beat us to a pulp?"

"No."

"I can't shake the feeling that something's spying on us."

"Some Virus or another. But who can it report to?"

"Well… True… Like Guilty Spark…"

"Who?"

"Ah! Eh… An orb-shaped robot with AI… Tasked with guarding a 100,000 year-old facility somewhere in the Milky Way… He was left alone because his creators became extinct and tended to the facility alone having no – one else to talk to…" He described.

"Hum. Good example. But these things are automated."

"Well… They could be the Sentinels for all we know… Maybe they report to Ra Mu?"

"No. No – one was supposed to report to Ra Mu. Why would you report anything to a God to begin with?"

"Good point… Then something else? An EM Wave Body?"

"True! I'd forgotten about them. Or the repulsive Erand Soldiers too! They could be stored somewhere in this gigantic place but we don't have the manpower or the time to search it all… But even if they were let loose they would be weak without having a host to use to perform "Denpa – Henkan"… I know they can do that using an Erand Soldier as proxy host but they need to have formed a transformation of their own to begin with anyway…" Kuroban muttered.

_Well. You lowlife aren't that mistaken in that part. It's obvious you lowlife have done some research before coming here. And I remember where the "Denpa Bodies" are stored at along with the Erand Soldiers… Heh! You'll soon find your "rule" over the Mu Continent challenged by our fail-safes, repulsive heir of the On'Setsu!_

"I'm telling there's something spying on us!"

"Don't get paranoid, Gray."

"Call me paranoid and whatever but this sensation won't shake up until I've lit each and every corner of this hall!"

"Huff. You'd need a lot of spotlights to do that. And this place doesn't have plugs or electrical wiring so you'd need to invent a new system to feed them." Kuroban dismissed the idea.

Gray Thunderbolt formed an annoyed face and grumbled something under his breath while Kuroban sighed.

"So?"

"Alright! Let's go back already. I'm an idiot, alright."

"No, no. You simply let this place's pressure affect you."

"And why doesn't that affect _YA_ instead?"

"It's countered by both hatred and joy. Hatred at stepping into the enemy's capital, and joy at bringing the triumph of my tribe: controlling Ra Mu."

"Alright, alright."

"If that's all then we could head back to the HQ: there's some work left regarding the final preparations of "Seraph Tower"…"

"Yeah, I know… But I hope I won't have to set my feet here again in a long while…" Gray Thunderbolt grimly muttered.

"Don't be so defeatist."

"I'm trying, man!"

"Try harder."

"That's easy for ya to say!"

_Hmpf… Internal fights? Good! They'll benefit me! Heh, heh, heh! _

"…and for the love of Uncle Moriarty! I won't ever come back inside of this room until all of its blackness has been wiped out!"

"Be serious!"

08:58 AM (Japan Time)…

"… _Kneel, in silence, alone… My spirit bares me… Pray for guidance, towards home… In darkest hours…_"

_I went to sleep late or what?_

"… _Kneel… Dream within dream we travel… In silence… Empires of faith unravel… Alone… Sealed with our virtues' treasures… Kingdoms falling… Down… Whose hand commands the thunder…? In silence… Cry as we're torn asunder… Alone… unto what gods I call…? Protect us in our…_ _Far away, my soul wandered… Born in my grace… I flew on high, sheltered from thunder… Calling heaven…"_

_Heaven…? Why does this ring a bell…? Of course! We have _Purgatory _and _Paradise… _And where am I, anyway?_

"_Take me away from time and season… Far, far away we'll sing with reason… Prepare a throne of stars above me… As the world once known will leave me…_"

_Isn't that…? Oriol's favorite theme… "Take Me Away", by Globus… Did I say Oriol's…? I now know why I feel so tired… _

"_Take me away upon a battle… Far, far away from fears and shadows… Strengthen my heart in times of sorrow… Light the way to bright tomorrows…_"

Netto stretched and yawned to then blink some times: he rubbed his eyes and then realized he was lying face-down in the king-sized bed within Kuroshiro's room: Kuroshiro himself was lying sleeping right beneath Netto's body and both were naked but the blankets were covering them at around the waist area: Kuroshiro looked relaxed and calm while Netto was forming a grin.

_Guess we both ended up tired from our intense sex yesterday evening! Heh, heh, heh. He's my perfect lover: he adores me and sometimes spoils me because he doesn't want to do anything which may harm me. And to think I was the one who claimed him two years ago… There, on his apartment's sofa, all of a sudden… Heh, heh, heh!_

"_Answer our call in desperate hours… Shelter our fall from earthly powers… Temper our souls with flame and furnace… Bears us towards a noble purpose…_ _Heaven hides nothing in its measure… Mortal men guided by false treasure… Formless and vanquished we shall travel… Shield and sword will guide our battle…_"

"Yo. Oriol – chan! Time to wake up, cute guy."

Netto grinned and began to rub Kuroshiro's nipples with his hands: Kuroshiro began to make some low-toned moans while Netto began to slowly lick his cheeks.

"_Take me away upon a battle… Far, far away from fears and shadows… Strengthen my heart in times of sorrow… Light the way to bright tomorrows… Heaven hides nothing in its measure… Mortal men guided by false treasure… Formless and vanquished we shall travel… Shield and sword will guide our battle…_ _Salvation comes in desperate hours… Angels on high proclaim these powers… Lead us from chaos, we shall follow… Bear us to a bright tomorrow…_"

"… Hmmm… Netto – kun! You're terrible… Teasing me already!"

"Past 9 o'clock."

"Hmmm… Alright… But let's not take too long…"

"Sure. It's my turn to play around today but I don't feel like doing S&M because it'd be an insult to what happened yesterday. Say, did you find out who sent those two freaks over there?" Netto asked in a distracted manner.

"Dullahan…"

"Dullahan, huh."

"Yeah… Guess they were making a shot for it because it looked so hastily improvised that I don't believe anything important was on stake to begin with…" Kuroshiro yawned.

"How far are you with the _Pocket Monsters Black_ Pokémon Encyclopedia, anyway?" Netto asked.

"Hmmm… Out of 649… I got 600… But…"

"But?"

"There are two or three which I think they are to be event-given Pokemon and one of them must be that "ultimate PKMN" described in a memo in the P2 Lab… I dunno which the other two are… I got both Reshiram and Zekrom, obviously enough, the "Sacred Swordsmen" trio of Cobalon, Terrakion and Virizion… Then I got the "Kami Trio" of Tornelos, Voltolos and Landlos… I found that Kyurem one too… And there are another three at the end of the list, Numbers 647, 648 and 649 which seemingly are unavailable for the time being… Maybe one of them will come with the newest movie, Movie 14… I still find it odd that Victini is considered a Legendary Pokemon on its own and that it is Number 000 of the Isshu Region index and 494 in the National one, right after Arceus…" Kuroshiro admitted: he opened his eyes and glanced at the ceiling.

"Oh! True, true. And I'm sure there'll be some special events sooner or later… And maybe next year or the next we'll get a _Pocket Monsters Gray _if we go by the logic of past generations: _Pikachu_, _Crystal, Emerald _and _Platinum_…" Netto grinned as he began to rub his nipples again while having a broad grin.

"Jeez. Netto – kun can be impatient from time to time: or sex is the only thing which draws us together?" He sounded annoyed by now.

"Of course not. But I woke up hungry and you know I'm a glutton: I wanna have _hors d'ouevre_ with your nice little rosy ass." Netto kept on grinning as he loomed over him.

"Fine~…" He closed his eyes and sounded resigned.

"You look like Saito – niisan with that face and voice."

"Obviously." He merely replied.

"Heh, heh! I like teasing ya."

"You can be cruel from time to time."

"That's not being cruel: it's being sneaky!"

"Sure, loopholes-man."

"Oho. You could patent that one."

"Come on."

"Say! Why don't we beat the batter?" Netto laughed.

"What? Is that a joke aimed at Superintendent Oda?"

"Bravo, Holmes."

"Hah, hah. I dunno why but today I don't feel in a good mood: guess that of yesterday still irritates me." He sighed.

"Maybe _this_ will help you snap outta it?"

Netto did something and Kuroshiro suddenly gasped in surprise: Netto quickly hugged him and began to kiss him while he move forward and backward while obviously pumping his cock into Kuroshiro's ass from below the sheets: the kiss turned passionate and Kuroshiro seemed to be wishing for more of it given how he hugged Netto as well: they quickly broke apart, panting while Netto closed his eyes and apparently released given his face of excitement and pleasure: he panted and collapsed atop Kuroshiro who began to stroke his hair from behind.

"Oh… Netto – kun… Guess the hunger was making me feel ill-humored today too…" He giggled.

"Sure thing… And I see you can still take more of it!" Netto eagerly exclaimed.

Netto suddenly pulled the covers over them and some moans began to ring out from underneath them.

"I can tease your ass with my fingers!" He laughed in a hushed tone of voice.

"N-no more… Please…!"

"I still feel hungry!"

"Netto – kun!"

09:26 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Hello. Gentlemen."

"Oh. Shade Man – dono. What might we help you with?"

"Do you mind if I take a seat?" He asked.

"Please go ahead, Shade Man – dono."

"Thank you."

Shade Man had walked into the cafeteria where he met with the only customers there for the time being: Agoras and Victor: they invited him to have a seat and so he did: Dark Man walked over to them while having a notepad and a pen ready.

"What do the gentlemen desire?" He asked.

"I'd like an obscure coffee with a hint of heat." Shade Man requested.

"I'd prefer some still water at room temperature." Joel requested.

"I'll have a coffee too." Victor replied.

"So! The orders are two obscure coffees with a hint of heat and one still water. I shall bring them right away."

"What were you reading if I may ask?" Shade Man asked.

"I was reading this." Joel announced as he held up a book which was titled "The casebook of Sherlock Holmes" and grinning.

"Oho! And what do you have to say about you, Victor?"

"Oh, I'd picked this. "The Hound of Baskervile"…"

"Intriguing. Say… Isn't there a tale about a supposed vampire in one of those short stories?" He asked.

"The "Sussex Vampire", you mean to say?"

"I just had an idea… About "Charon"…"

"Is that so?"

"Truly."

He whispered something to them and they looked amused at what he whispered: Agoras' glasses shone with a creepy light and Victor formed a smug smile.

"Excellent." Agoras complimented.

"Magnificent."

"What would that be?" _Noir_ asked as he walked over to them while having his robe and hood on and followed by Legato.

"May we join the conspiracy, fellow conspirers?"

"Of course."

Both sat down on the table and Shade Man whispered his idea to them: _Noir_ looked interested and Legato was amused.

"How clever, Shade Man – dono."

"Thank you, sir."

"Tonight would be a good occasion to put it into practice!" Legato suggested with an eager voice.

"The sooner the better." Victor rallied.

"What a fright they'll have!" Agoras laughed.

"If they thought they were invincible then let's prove to them that they aren't and that we're smart." _Noir_ exclaimed.

"We all agree, then?" Shade Man asked.

"Definitely!"

"Good, good! I'll go arrange everything, gentlemen. So if you shall excuse me… Ki, ki, ki…"

He stood up, bowed and walked away while rubbing his claw-hands: a sinister smile formed on his face and he chuckled in his scary tone of voice…

23:54 PM (London Time)…

_Good… The security here is lame: it's obvious no – one thought a thief would come and pick anything here because they're replicas with no actual value… _

"Charon" slowly opened a door leading to a rather blackened apartment filled with showcases and some wax figures around the room: the curtains were drawn as well but he had no trouble navigating thanks to his IR goggles: he began to look around.

_Now, where's that golden watch which is said to be a true 19__th__ century item worn by Conan Doyle? Hmmm?_

He stopped and looked at a wax figure largely covered by a black coat and which had an informative plaque set on the wall next to it titled "The Sussex Vampire" so he shrugged and began to examine the showcase but he seemingly didn't find what he was looking for.

"Damn it all."

"Ki, ki, ki…"

"HUH? W-who…?"

He looked around in a bewildered manner and suddenly spotted that the earlier sculpture had vanished and only left the cloak on the ground: he stepped back and began to look around.

"Dullahan summons Charon. You know what that means, don't you, my fellow conspirer? Unless our party is strong enough then we're screwed and the problem is that he can summon it anytime during his three slotted attacks per turn… And at 16,000 HP it's quite a monster to beat but luckily it doesn't increase HP in the Hard Mode yet its other values rise up and it's quite a challenge to try to tackle that thing…" A voice rang out which seemed to come out from everywhere at the same time.

"W-who…? Wait… That voice…"

"Oh? You know of my charming voice? Well then… Let's make a proper introduction, shall we, my fellow conspirer?"

"W-what!"

Several small reddish bats formed out of nowhere and began to assemble in the midst of the room to give way to a figure which was revealed to be Shade Man.

"Shade Man! You!"

"Oh? We knew each other?" He looked intrigued.

"I read your file!"

"No, no. That sounded like you'd known me on the flesh."

"I read your file!"

"Or maybe not…"

"I read your DAMNED file!" He roared.

"My, my. What manners. Holmes would disapprove of them."

"I couldn't care less for that!"

"I think Eisei Aaron does."

"Eisei – dono does?" He gasped.

"He says you guys are Uncle Moriarty's nephews."

"W-wha~t?"

"You didn't know? My. How amusing. We're Uncle Moran's nephews and Superintendent Oda is Uncle Merton's nephew."

"W-what's with those uncles?"

"They're fond of puns."

"You gotta be kidding me." He growled.

"Nope. Wanna invent Kidding Man?"

"Where's the watch!"

"There never was. We made the tale up to lure you here tonight!"

"Impossible!"

"Not impossible at all, Mr. Smith."

"My name ain't Smith! Charon!"

"That's your code-name although I gotta admit Liquid didn't have a civilian name to begin with." He laughed.

"Liquid Snake?"

"Oho. So you know of the fella. He was raised here, you know? In King Land…"

"I knew that!"

"Maybe you knew he told Ocelot to pack up?"

"In the _MGS2_ comic!"

"Heh, heh, heh. So you're a hardcore fan. You've played or watched _Peace Walker_ too?" He teased next.

"Of course!"

"Bravo. Are you hooked to the news about _Metal Gear Solid: Rising_? You surely saw the concept art pieces released a month ago."

"I did! And now hi and bye!"

"What!"

"Charon" suddenly jumped out through the still closed window by forming an electrical field which repelled all objects around his body: he landed on the street and then jumped into a manhole: Shade Man spotted a flash of white light forming inside of it and made a grimace.

"Damn. They fled. Now, the matter is… They knew me in person or they knew from my file? Hard to settle at this stage… Maybe I'm over-imaging things… That was a human, alright."

He shrugged and transformed into bats to fly out into the night.

_Back to Japan we go~… Ki, ki, ki!_

09:07 AM (Japan Time), Monday February the 17th…

"… I shall present no apologies, Prince, but I failed: Golden Star had lured me there and I barely prevented capture."

"No big deal. No – one's perfect. Who was there?"

"Shade Man, Prince."

"Shade Man, huh. The vampire?"

"He's disguised as part of the wax figures under the title "The Sussex Vampire" so that's why I didn't pay attention to it, Prince. How should I redeem for this mistake?"

"Don't mind it, Styx. It's no big deal. Better luck next time."

"Thank you very much, my Lord."

"It's nothing, I insist. And if Dullahan gets nosy then do tell me because I can't stand nosy guys."

"By thou will."

"Over and out."

"So… What's the verdict?"

"Nothing will change."

Styx had reported to Kuroban over the holographic screen: Styx looked repented but Kuroban didn't find it to that much of a hassle: Styx bowed before the line went out and Eisei began to talk with Kuroban.

"Say, Kuroban Howsad…"

"Hmmm?"

"Have you had an assassination attempt?"

"… Yeah. I had. Why'd you ask?"

"Well, Netsuhonoo was the one who spotted it…"

"Oh. That of the handrail…"

"Yeah. That of the handrail… He got nervous."

"My bad. I didn't intend to scare anyone." He apologized.

"No, no! It's just that he was nervous fearing you were having a nervous crisis or the stress was affecting you…" Eisei replied.

They didn't spot Burai who was hidden behind a curtain and listening in while being invisible: a smug smile was drawn on his face.

_Kuroban Howsad! So that's you lowlife's name! The Kuroban Royal Family: the last ruling family when the Great War! So some of them survived and they have continued the tradition… And how curious: "Howsad" is an anagram of the English word "shadow" or "kage"… It's not meant to be read as the English expression "How sad", though! But English didn't exist in that era so it's obviously derived from their idiom and it must have a meaning of its own. Heh, heh, heh!_

"Well. Yeah. I had one. But that was over 10 years ago."

"No, no! No need for details! It's not my place to stick my nose where I ain't asked for. I just wanted to see if my hypothesis was very far from the mark or not." Eisei replied.

"Fine."

"Well. I'm off to the club room… I don't want to get on the way: "Seraph Tower" has to be ready by this weekend."

"Yeah. Dullahan's working on it and he'd do a better job if he wasn't being jealous at Styx's publicity as "Charon"…"

_Styx AKA Charon and Dullahan… So Charon is that guy's code-name and the real name's Styx… Heh, heh, heh. I've had an idea! Leak this to Golden Star and have them put pressure on the guy: maybe he'll get desperate and make some mistake which will benefit me… To training I go and I hope to be strong enough by the weekend to tackle them!_

"…but that doesn't matter much. We will be victorious!"

"Victory! And triumph! For the Seraphs!"


	12. Chapter 12: Realization

**Chapter 12: Realization**

09:46 AM (Japan Time), Monday February the 17th…

"… Hmmm… This reeks…"

"What's up, Mutt?"

"Ah. Eisei."

"Something picked your nose?"

"Sure. I'll tell it to you."

Eisei stepped into a living room within the Seraph HQ having a fireplace, a few red leather armchairs, two bookcases, one LCD TV set on the wall over the fireplace and a round wooden table on the center of it: the armchairs had been placed around it and one was occupied by Kisei who was reading something over his Link PET.

"Alright! Fire away, my fellow conspirer." Eisei laughed as he sat on one of the armchairs across the table.

"Ever heard of the _SS Scheherazade Symphony_?"

"Hum. Yeah! There was some grim murdering there a year ago but I never paid much attention to it… Why'd you ask?"

"Ijuuin Enzan was there."

"Ijuuin was there?" He was curious by now.

"Along with these other passengers: Hikari Netto, Superintendent Oda, Kanou Shade, Nazonazo Mary, Koyota Shayo, Kyundai Augen and Konda Tarou… Plus an elderly citizen… Dr. _Joseph Wily_!"

"By all the…! But Wily died in 2006 when the Dream Virus blew up, didn't the old man?" He gasped.

"Let me tell you the whole tale."

"Man! I'm hooked already."

"Heh, heh, heh… You ready?"

"As ever will be."

"Good motto. Well then! Someone named Wholy Jisep organized the cruise for 9 select passengers which are those I listed. The fishy part about it is that the crew had never met the man but all bank transactions and such were clean and legal."

"An invisible sponsor, eh?"

"Yeah. Well! The ship departed and all and nothing was amiss: the man named Kanou Shade and the elderly citizen weren't at the supper because the first wanted to finish some enterprise work and the second was not hungry… Well! When the waiter brought up the name it was like a gun had been fired: everyone realized the meaning of the name and so more Oda and his two buddies."

"Uncle Merton's hot-blooded nephew sprung to action?"

"Yessir! They rushed to his room and got in but there was no sign of the old man anywhere: but he _had_ to be onboard because three witnesses had seen him. Oda searched everywhere but found nothing so he gave up and headed for the bar. And suddenly something happened!"

"Man! Don't tease me like that!"

"Gunshot rang out from the upper deck! The passengers rushed there and found the flag burning plus a 10,000 Z note stabbed in the reverse of a bench using a knife… Something had been scribbled there!"

"What, what?"

"… ""Having accepted the life granted by the Sea God Poseidon… My shadow shall be revived."…"

"Whoa!"

"Then that man named Kyundai yelped in terror and began to mutter about "that guy" and "alive" before something blew up on the ship's stern! The emergency use rope ladder began to burn along with a body which had been placed there… They managed to put the fire out but it was impossible to properly ID the corpse."

"Hum! A burnt corpse…"

"Given how the corpse had a golden watch then they thought it could be that guy named Koyota… Kyundai was seized by Oda to be questioned but refused to help: Ijuuin and Hikari went to fetch Konda at his cabin but yo and behold! The guy was gone!"

"Gone! So, the two of them had gone back to their cabins and one of them showed up as a corpse? Scary, scary~!"

"So! Four gunshots ring out from the rear and Ijuuin plus Oda converge there to find no-one expect for a trap-door leading into the engine room where they guess Wily has fortified: they think Konda saw Wily coming into the room, followed and was killed there."

"So! One mad scientist and two corpses… Amusing!"

"Kyundai pleads for his life and confesses that they were 5th column guys for the WWW. They stole Wily's money but now it'd seem that Wily has chased them to exact his revenge! A gunshot rings out and Hikari gets hit on his right forearm by accident instead of Kyundai. A second one rings out but misses and hits the wall. Oda runs out with his revolver to the bow to catch Wily but…!"

"But…?" Eisei looked tense by now.

"…he only finds Koyota, who'd just blown his brains out!"

"WHA~T?" He uttered.

"True! So they conclude that Wily was an illusion created by Koyota and that the burnt corpse was Konda's. The guy had used the rope ladder to hide and bide his moment… He'd tried to hit Kyundai but failed and then decided to step in Hell by his own hand: he'd put on the silencer because he didn't want them to know beforehand he'd done that."

"Alright. The thing looks pretty straightforward to me. Where's the mystery on it?"

"See… The next day the dining room glass gets replaced by Winterthur Inc.'s insurance and disposed of while the railings are re-painted…"

"And?"

"And from reading the detailed report I see that only six spots in the railings needed new paint and all were on the reverse side facing the sea to begin with… And the glass was melted immediately as if someone was in a hurry to get rid of it forever after the forensics finished their work in the place… Wholy Jisep was one of Wily's aliases so it was guessed that Koyota staged the ship thing…"

"Hum. Getting rid of the glass… Why?"

"That's what I'm wondering. The only thing on it was the bullet hole used by both shots to get into the dining room."

"And those six spots on the railing… They didn't show up on the forensic report?"

"No. No – one thought of looking there."

"The gunshots were real?"

"Yeah. The gun's clip had nine spent bullets. If no other cartridges apart from the last shot bullet were found it's because Koyota surely dumped them overboard." Kisei replied.

"Then… Who would want to get rid of the glass?"

"Dunno."

"Golden Star?"

"Well…" He trailed off.

"You suspect them of being involved? They reject murder."

"I know! But something tells me these re-painted handrail spots and the replacing of the glass have some meaning." Kisei sighed.

"Maybe you're over-thinking things?"

"Maybe…"

"What would they gain from that show, anyway?"

"Nothing." Kisei realized.

"My point exactly."

"Alright… Guess I'm being stupid."

"No, no. It just had a flavor of drama which drew you in…" Eisei tried to fuel his spirits again.

"If you say it like that…"

"Hmmm… What became of Kyundai?"

"He was interned but since he cooperated in giving out all info he knew about remains of the WWW and such they let him out in parole and he is obliged to report to the judge once per month." Kisei replied.

"Maybe he could help us."

"What! You want to find him?" He gasped.

"Yeah. Maybe I can say I'm an amateur investigator, but that I'm a half-moron and that if there is some trick here then the Great Genial Kyundai – sama has to know it. Guys like these quickly get to talk when you praise them and when they think they're facing half-morons."

"So you believe there's some trick?"

"Yeah. That maintenance work was very rushed as if they wanted to make sure no – one could spot it after the forensics were done with their investigation." Eisei confirmed.

"True, true. Well… _Good luck_."

"Thanks. I'll bring Ocelot's Single Action Army as _souvenir_."

"Ocelot's! Hah! That's a good one."

"Ain't it, my fellow conspirer? Let's conspire upon a conspiracy and produce a spiced up conspirer." He laughed.

"Patent it and it'll be the week's most catchy motto."

"My word."

10:12 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Pssst! Ijuuin… Over 'ere…"

"Zarashe… You have some business with me?"

"We got info, Mr. Blues."

"Tell us."

"Let's go to a safe place."

"And where's that?"

"Our car."

"Fine."

Enzan had been reading the newspapers while walking down the streets when Zarashe and Beta X (Beta X sporting a navy blue sailor's coat and a cap plus sunglasses to hide his Navi bodysuit) popped out of a nearby side-alley: Enzan began to speak with them and merely nodded in approval as he followed them inside of the alley where a black-colored Toyota car had been parked at.

"After you, my fellow conspirer."

"Whatever."

Enzan stepped into the rear middle seat while Zarashe sat on the driver's and Beta X in the passenger's: both turned around to face Enzan and Zarashe grinned.

"We got a leak."

"From who?"

"Dunno. He signed as "S"…"

"What was the leak about?"

"Two things! One: the leader of the "Seraphs" is named Prince Kuroban Howsad, is 25 years old and comes from Thailand. But he's not the current monarchy's heir."

"Ah no? Then why does he use the "Prince" title?"

"He is the descendant of a long line of kings which survived the destruction of their ancient kingdom 4,000 years ago."

"Hum. And the other leak?"

"Charon's normal name is Styx. And apparently he's aged 15. Which matches with our analysis insofar…"

"Styx… Charon… Wait a min…"

"Yeah, we know. Styx was one of the rivers flowing into the Hades in Greek mythology and Charon was its boatman ferrying the souls of the dead into there…" Beta X grinned.

"So it was a reciprocal name… And how did the leak reach you?"

"Something triggered proximity alarms in a "node" and when Zero checked it he found a file which had been dropped there: he checked the facts and verified them as being true."

"So whoever told you knew about the "nodes" and intended to give you info on the "Seraphs"…" Enzan guessed.

"There was a P. S. which said he worked on his own and he was just using us to put pressure into the "Seraphs"… The info also hinted at them having some kind of backup plan but said we didn't need to know for the time being: he said that "Dullahan" is in charge of the "Seraph Tower" stuff and that apparently he's jealous of Styx's fame."

"Hum. So he's either infiltrated them or is on a position to be able to get his hands on this information…"

"We deduced as much already…" Beta X shrugged.

"And the only clue to their identity is that they are a man and they sign using the "S" letter?" Blues questioned.

"Yeah. He called us "cha guys" so at least he isn't blunt but was very straight to the point. There were one or two spots where it looked like he'd inputted the wrong _kanji_ and then fixed it."

"Hum. So he might be a foreigner who has some basic Japanese but he has trouble knowing the _onyomi _and _kunyomi_ of the _Kanji_ when looking for them in a keyboard's menu?" Enzan deduced next.

"Elemental, my dear Watson."

"Alright. By the way… Has Tozukana remained cool?"

"Oh, Joanne – san? Well! So it'd seem. She's gone to her aunt's place for some days but she'll be back by tomorrow."

"And Ikada? Is she still using you as her hobby?"

"… Well yeah…" Zarashe sighed.

"Come on! It's not like it's the world's end."

"I know, I know…"

"If that's all you had to tell me then I'll be on my way back. I've got some stuff to take care of myself." Enzan told them.

"Sure. Tell Uncle Merton's favorite nephew that we'll send him the newest broadcast today." Zarashe made a broad grin.

"The next chapter of "Invaders!"…!" Beta X teased.

"Hmpf. Yeah, I know. Later."

"Take care, Mr. Blues. Sharpen that blade and corner Gray Thunderbolt between the sword and the wall." Beta X told Blues.

"Hmpf! That's what I intend to do." Blues smugly smiled, for once.

Enzan climbed out and waved goodbye as the car turned on and came out of the alley: he failed to spot Solo crouched behind a heap of garbage bins and crates.

_Heh! Now the authorities know it too… The more the better! Kuroban! You lowlife will soon be facing three parties at the same time: will you be able to stand the pressure? Heh! Prove it to me! This is the continuation of the Mu Empire VS On'Setsu Kingdom Great War! One man army VS one man army! Let the drums of war ring out! Heh, heh, heh!_

11:11 AM (Japan Time)…

"… How is it like, Search Man?"

"I have detected extremely faint pieces of data. Two custom Navis were deleted in this exact spot."

Search Man was investigating the spot of the ambush two days ago while the "node" calmly glowed close by: he seemed to have spotted something in the area.

"Can you ID them?" Laika asked.

"Yes, sir! Names: Plant Man and Beast Man. Plant Man was part of the so-called "Four Dark Heavenly Kings" which resurrected Forte using "Proto" and which led to the deletion of the mighty Serenade. Beast Man was under their orders and had a human Operator, Inukai Takeo, who is currently in jail… Plant Man was revived by Golden Star, but rebelled and was deleted so it's safe to think that the "Seraphs" were behind their comeback." Search Man explained.

"They were here with some purpose, obviously enough." Laika muttered as if reflecting.

"I can see remains of Beast Man's claws next to the "node" so he must have tried to attack it. Plant Man, on the other hand, could have been trying to intercept the ingoing and outgoing data that the "node" managed."

"That makes sense."

"Doesn't it?" A new voice asked with a ring of sarcasm.

Search Man looked again at the "node" and spotted Zero leaning his back against it while having his arms folded.

"Zero! The manager of the super-computer…!"

"That's my name. By the way… Shouldn't you be worried about trying to analyze Seraph Tower instead of letting paranoia make you mistrust all of your comrades?" Zero asked in a dull tone.

"We'd love to do so! But we'd need someone to keep the Viruses at bay while we analyze." Search Man replied.

"Hmpf! Then, you're late when it comes to catching up." Zero scoffed.

"You came here to laugh at our faces or what?" Laika demanded.

"Hmpf! Maybe!" Zero scoffed again.

"I would add something to this situation: you are trespassing." A familiar female voice added.

"Damn it. Slur?" Search Man gasped as he looked upwards.

"That is me."

"What do you intend?"

"I am trying to see what Serenade saw in you."

"What Serenade saw on us? We never met him."

"I knew that. But I think he would have picked you as one of those strong enough to face the upcoming crisis." Slur replied.

"Well…"

"Yet there are plenty of reasons why he would not have made such a foolish decision: you do not trust in anyone but in those hollow and non-material claims such as "duty" or "patriotism"…"

"You say they aren't important?" Laika questioned.

"For me not. I do not care about nations or politics but about society because, ultimately, society is the one which built the Cyber World we live in today… And my exposition is over. Search all you want, but maybe you should begin with some soul-searching?" She made a taunting grin at Search Man.

"What…" Laika was annoyed by now.

"Farewell, then. Let us go, Zero."

"Che! Laughing at me… They'll regret it!"

11:23 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Hah! No big deal! Burn and toast!"

"Found you."

"Huh? Oi! Gray! Don't scare me like that and…! Hey! You're not one of us, even! Who are ya?"

"That doesn't matter. Fight me."

"Yikes!"

Raging Flame had been busting Viruses around the Reverse Internet when Burai suddenly dropped in front of him while having his sword drawn: Raging Flame gasped while Burai jumped across the air towards him while brandishing the sword: Raging Flame barely escaped by rolling across the floor two meters to the right.

"Hell's Burner!"

He drew two "Hell's Burner" Battle Chips and shot two streams of flames at Burai but they bounced off a round transparent sky blue barrier with glyphs surrounding the outer edge: Raging Flame gasped.

"Useless. My turn. Flying Knuckle!"

A myriad of copies of his right fist formed and began to shoot at Raging Flame who drew two Flame Swords to intercept them but some hit him anyway.

"Fuck."

He jumped forward and swung his swords: one hit disabled the barrier and the other almost connected were it not for a counter-attack brought upon by Burai using the sword and cutting a diagonal path: Raging Flame grumbled and stepped back.

"Heck. This guy's no joke…! Tank Cannon!"

"Hmpf."

CLANG!

"Shit. That barrier thing regenerates?"

"Hmpf. Eat this!"

Burai warped to close-quarters distance and momentarily stuck the sword into the ground before starting a four-hit-combo in which he punched his stomach, torso and jaw before he added a kick to the face: Raging Flame groaned and had to recoil while grumbling aloud.

"Shit. I get no break!"

"A real war won't give you any breaks, _amateur_."

"Shaddup! You're yet to see my best shot!"

"Bring it on."

"Atomic Blazer!"

"Hmpf."

Raging Flame formed an spheroid of energy which he then amplified into a gigantic beam sweeping across the ground: he grinned but suddenly he was from the SW by Burai who'd crouched and appeared there: the hit knocked him out of his feet and Burai aimed the sword at his neck but Raging Flame scowled.

"Fuck! Area Steal!"

"Hmpf."

"Program Advance! Sword, Wide Sword, Long Sword! Dream Sword! EAT THIS!"

"Useless."

Burai extended his sword horizontally and quickly made two diagonal cuts forming the shape of the Alphabet "X" character: the Dream Sword's energy shape was split in four and each one headed on different paths before dissipating.

"Impossible! What are ya, invincible?" Raging Flame was out of his wits by now.

"No."

"Then who are ya?"

"Burai."

"Burai?"

"I have a message for Kuroban Howsad."

"Wha! You know about the Prince?"

"Yeah. And you WILL deliver this message."

"Che. Alright: I'm already out of my wits as to how to fight ya."

"Tell that man I'm going to fight him."

"When?"

"Someday."

"Heh! You'll firstly have to try Gray Thunderbolt: if you can get past the guy then _maybe_ you'll be able to fight the Prince." He tried to sound cocky and confident.

"I'd already thought as much."

"Nothing impresses you, huh?"

"Nothing."

"Just what are you?"

"A guardian."

"Of Mu?" Raging Flame suddenly seemed to spot his crest.

"Yeah. Of Mu."

"Whatever! I'll deliver the message but don't hope to have it so easy with Gray Thunderbolt." Raging Flame grumbled.

"Whatever."

"Oi! Wait…! Che. Sneaky jerk…!"

11:35 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Prince? Netsuhonoo Robin, sir… May I step in?"

"Sure."

"I apologize for the intrusion."

"You wouldn't have come unless it was very important."

"I am afraid it is, sir."

"Tell me."

Netsuhonoo stepped into the throne room and found Kuroban interacting with the usual holographic screen.

"I was training on the Reverse Internet when a "Denpa-Henkan" user by the name of Burai…"

"BURAI YOU SAY?"

He suddenly rushed down from the throne and loomed over Netsuhonoo while looking pretty annoyed or hysterical.

"Y-yes, my lord… A guardian of Mu, he said… He wants to fight you, sir, but he'll try his odds with Gray Thunderbolt… He beat me so quickly, really, and I couldn't even harm them, sir…"

"FUCK THEM ALL!" He cursed.

Netsuhonoo remained firm while Kuroban cursed in some foreign idiom while looking like he was about to strangle someone: Eisei rushed in because he'd apparently heard the yells.

"What's going on, _aibou_?"

"That lapdog of Mu who tried to slice my neck 10 years ago! They're still alive! I thought they'd died in an accident!" He cursed.

"Oh crap. That's bad, right?"

"Horrible! The lapdog surely was hiding inside of Mu: they've found another way to get in and out!"

"Then we're in trouble?"

"BIG TROUBLE! That lapdog just beat Netsuhonoo without having to any real effort and wasn't affected by any of the attacks!"

"Oh crap."

"And he's marked you on his list next!"

"Me?" Eisei gasped.

"I said he should try his odds before facing the Prince…"

"Huh. Alright…"

"But nothing will change! Nothing! Get it?"

"R-roger, my lord…" Netsuhonoo gulped.

"That fucking punk bastard…!"

He trailed off and began to curse on his foreign idiom again: Eisei glanced at Netsuhonoo and he nodded so both made their way out of the room while Kuroban punched the right wall.

"You won't get in the way anymore, Burai! Shit! I left that "world" in order to shake you off but Fate had it that you exist in this "world" too! I'm so gonna break your neck!" He hissed.

He stepped out into the balcony and looked at the skies as if trying to spot someone or something: he gasped and leant forward to see a figure standing in the beach outside the perimeter and looking on his direction but it quickly warped away: Kuroban quickly stepped inside again and began to curse again.

"Shit. The fucker is stalking us! But they won't go for an assassin's approach because that'd be against their honor… That's the good news but the bad news is that they won't be beaten so easily! But as long as I have the power of the Four Heavenly Kings and the High One stored in my "Ultimate Orb" then… You stand no chance, lapdog of Mu! Be ready to be destroyed! My kingdom will be the winner this time around and your pitiful empire will be - WIPED OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH!"

23:33 PM (London Time)…

_Heh, heh, heh. The most famous museum of the city gets robbed by a Japanese thief… What headlines! I can see 'em coming!_

"Charon" was chuckling under his breath as he strolled along empty exhibitions rooms having exhibits on ancient Egypt: he stopped to look at a sarcophagus and chuckled again.

"So! Is the Nameless Pharaoh's mummy there? Heh, heh, heh! Ah! My bad, my bad! Too much Yu-Gi-Oh, see! Or are you hiding one of the Millennium Items, buddy? Who knows? Maybe Mr. Universe knows!"

He kept on strolling down the room and spotted a showcase having several items displayed in there.

_Now! Let's pick these coins which were added recently…_

"… Who dares to profane the relics of my antecessors?" A deep voice boomed out of nowhere.

_What in the… That ain't a rent-a-cop!_

"Charon" whipped around and saw that the sarcophagus had vanished from the case: he gulped and stepped back.

_Come on! This is reality, not some _manga_ series! There's no such thing as "magic"! Let's get outta here, though… Maybe the sarcophagus was a solid-state image and that's a recording but… This gives me a bad feeling, really!_

"Charon" ran out and crossed a small bridge separating the main building within the building from a terrace: he was looking backwards and over his shoulder the whole time so he didn't realize something was in front of him until he bumped with it and recoiled: he growled and looked up but then gasped.

_Oh shit._

"My name is Pharaoh Man of Golden Star! No plebeian shall defy the pride of my antecessors!"

_Pharaoh Man! That Navi from that super-ancient civilization predating even the On'Setsu Kingdom…! _

"Hum! The miserable rat has been cornered!"

_Miserable rat, me? Tell that to Thieves' King Bakura!_

"Hum!"

"Whack!"

"Going somewhere? _Comrade_."

_Now who…? Fuck. Nebula's Cosmo Man…!_

Pharaoh Man's eyes had produced a "flash" which propelled "Charon" backwards only to be caught mid-air by Cosmo Man hovering behind him with a broad smile on his face.

"This is called "divide and conquer"…" Cosmo Man taunted with obvious mockery on his voice.

_Don't tell me!_

"Heh, heh, heh! And this called "backup"! Rocket Knuckle!" A new voice exclaimed.

"Ugh! What!"

"Too bad, guys, but I couldn't let something like yesterday's incident repeat again…"

Gray Thunderbolt had showed up and attacked Cosmo Man who let go of "Charon" and he rushed next to Gray Thunderbolt as if to take cover behind the guy: Gray Thunderbolt snickered and snapped his right hand's thumb and index fingers to make a "DC" show up on the spot and warp "Charon" out of the place although he remained there to make the machine return.

"Now! Let's see if the British Museum will become the Electricity Fried Museum." He laughed.

"Che!" Cosmo Man grumbled.

"Here we go~! Elec Sword! Rocket Knuckle! Hah, hah, hah! Blow them all and zap them all! Elec Man was pale in comparison!" He laughed as he drew an Elec Sword and shot another "Rocket Knuckle" towards the room with the exhibits.

"You savage! Eat this! Pharaoh Man – dono: leave this to me and secure the doorway! We cannot use our attacks because they'd damage the surrounding areas and we don't want that, do we?"

"Hum! I shall protect my antecessors' legacy!"

"_Aibou_ once referred as the piece-split "Ultimate Orb" as the _"Lost Legacy_", see." He laughed.

"And what if?"

"Man. You're so dry."

"Hmpf! I'm serious."

"Well! Seeing that ya came from Nebula…"

"I won't deny that but I hold no recollection of that age."

"So, _Noir_ is an old guy on his 60s?"

"How dare you! He always says he's 16!"

"16? Well! That's curious! We're in the same age group and so is Styx so they gotta have some months' difference."

"Do you need to know that to survive?" Cosmo Man taunted.

"Not really. But one's a little snooper, see."

"Hmpf! Eat this!"

"Slow, gramps."

"DAMN YOU!"

"_Touché_!" He sneered.

"Stay still so I can hit you with my fists!"

"Dream on, gramps."

"… Gray."

"_Aibou_?"

"What's that manner of speech?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you insulting an elder's honor?" Kuroban questioned.

"HUH? Ah, eh… No, no! It's Cosmo Man…"

"Cosmo Man? I thought he had a mental age of about 30."

"Well. Sure… Just that he's slow and all…" Gray Thunderbolt gulped and looked slightly nervous.

"Did Charon make it back to the base?"

"Sure thing."

"I'll warn you."

"Y-yeah? What I shouldn't do?"

"Cross out that word from your list of vocabulary. I am rather tolerant but I will NOT permit insults to elders! NO MATTER WHAT!" He suddenly yelled over the radio.

"Sorry, sorry! _Mea culpa_! I got cocky!"

"Then watch it or you'll be the one getting beaten. May I remind you to what happened with Blues 11 days ago?"

"Well! Yeah! I know, but…"

"No buts. If the enemy isn't totally defeated then you can't just go away thinking they're powerless. I think you haven't really learned your lesson from back then, Gray. You disappoint me, really."

"Oh how great." He grumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

"Gray… Don't abuse of my patience!" He hissed.

"You're still moody 'cause that guy showed up…"

"And what if?"

"… I'll shut my trap." He seemingly realized it was the wisest thing to do in the current circumstances.

"Good. We'll talk later."

"Phew. Now, where was I…? HUH? They're GONE!"

Gray Thunderbolt looked back at the front after having been glancing at the main hall to his left and below but it now turned out that both opponents were gone: his jaw hit the floor and he spotted something dropped in the floor which was a pamphlet with the words "TOO BAD" scribbled on it using a red pen: he grumbled and crumbled the pamphlet.

"What the heck. Why'd they pull out?" He wondered.

"We saw no reason to continue the fight." A voice rang out close by with a hint of sarcasm.

"Legato!" He hissed as he spotted him standing on the entrance.

"Yeah. I told them to come back because we saw that this could end up badly given how you'd try to vent off the frustration generated by Kuroban Howsad's call…"

"Wha! How'd ya know his name?"

"We got tipped. But that doesn't matter. Well. Keep on playing but we'll eventually figure out where "Seraph Tower" is at now that we know what it's about. Maybe by using "Heaven King – Shinato" you'll win this "Duel" against us? Heh, heh, heh."

"Oi! Wait! Fuck…! Che! I'll remember this! This isn't over! Not yet! We'll win and there's nothing you can do about it!"

Gray Thunderbolt cursed under his breath and formed a grimace…


	13. Chapter 13: So close, yet so far

**Chapter 13: So close, yet so far**

08:48 AM (Japan Time), Tuesday February the 18th…

"… Hullo, Enzan. Sorry if I woke you up. We've got the results."

"Don't mind it. I'm an early bird."

"… Seraph Tower is here: on Japan. To be more exacts: on Densan City's 5th District… But here comes the puzzling part! The exact address is: 35, Constitution Boulevard. Guess what's in there?"

"Hmmm… An embassy?"

Enzan had been woken up by a call from Kuroshiro and he was still clad on his black pajamas: he was apparently trying to shake the sleep off as Kuroshiro reported info to him.

"Nope. There's Densan Tower, the popular shopping mall."

"What? But how can Densan Tower be Seraph Tower? Are you sure you got the address right?"

"We double – checked after dissecting their encryption protocol. There's no room for mistakes. I sent Zarashe – kun to check already but didn't find anything odd. One thing is fishy, though… The architect that designed the tower is nowhere to be found. He vanished into thin air soon after the tower's completion. Its blueprints also vanished. Doesn't that strike you as odd?"

"Sure does. Could it be that the Seraphs staged for his "disappearance", then?" Enzan suggested.

"Obviously! But I don't get what they'd gain from it… This tower has been around for about five years. The damned old man didn't come up with Dimensional Converters until four years ago so the timeline doesn't match: there's one year's gap." Kuroshiro scratched the back of his head in a distracted manner.

"Are you sure of when Twilight designed them?" Enzan seemed to be thinking upon different lines.

"Could've come up with them before I knew it, even, now that I think about it… Those "Seraphs" dudes immediately figured their multiple applications and decided on making Seraph Tower… What I don't get is: why they'd go and bother to get rid of the blueprints and the architect along them. It just serves as fire to fuel a conspiracy."

"So! There's something they wanted no-one to know about that tower to begin with. Say… What's below it?" Enzan inquired.

"The parking lot: three basement floors labeled B2F, B3F and B4F because B1F is the super-market." Oriol replied.

"Is there an Underground tunnel there?" He asked next.

"No. The closest Underground tunnel is about seven hundred meters to the north and goes in the West – East direction."

"Hmmm…" Enzan seemed to be thinking about it.

"Got a clue?"

"I've got a slight idea. But I'd like to research it for a while before telling you. I'm not 100% sure of it." Enzan replied.

"Go ahead. I'll tell Netto – kun and Saito as well. They wanted to be kept up – to – date. See you later, Enzan – _chan_. I hope you haven't forgotten the thrill ride of the summer, though… That'd been too cold for you, I think… Good luck!"

"The thrill ride of the summer…? Oh man. Well…"

"Good morning, Enzan – sama."

"Ah. Blues. Did you find anything in the news?"

"Charon showed up in Barcelona and stole a canvas by Picasso a while after he pulled out of London's British Museum: that imitator sent me the report." Blues reported while sounding annoyed for a moment.

"You mean to say Legato."

"Do excuse me, sir, but they are but an imitator."

"Why can't you call people by their names?"

"They don't deserve it."

"And if I ordered you to?"

"Then I would obey: such is my programming."

"Good. Then you'll stop saying "imitator" and say "source" instead because I don't want to make you feel in a bad mood."

"Roger, sir."

"I've got a job for you."

"Command me, sir."

"Go investigate all you can about Densan Tower and the district around it including the underground sewers."

"Roger."

"The more complete the info the better too."

"Understood, sir."

Blues left the PET while Enzan sat back on the bed's edge while looking somewhat unsettled about something.

_Well… I'd been going out with Laika but the guy just wanted to use me for his own profit and even was smug enough to leave me with a small scar as a reminder… What a jerk. And in the summer I happened to experience a shaking experience which I wouldn't like to repeat. Heck, I dunno how that guy could go through it… And by "that guy" I mean Hikari… Hey. Maybe I could have a little payback? Why not… Heh! I'm feeling horny already from the idea… Let's go have a shower!_

Enzan headed over to the bathroom and stepped into the shower after placing the pajamas on a stool: he let the water heat and put on the shampoo before letting it run again: he formed a smug smile as he rubbed it across his hair to cleanse it.

_Heh… I still feel like it._

He eyed his already hardened cock and began to stimulate it by rubbing it at a constant pace: he seemed to enjoy the feeling and soon enough he'd released: he stained his fingers in the white stuff and licked them with obvious passion.

_Heh. Yeah. It can be arranged: I'm sure of it._

He finished showering and put on his usual clothes before he came out into the main room and cooked two bread slices to which he applied strawberry jerry: he served some water in a glass and then sat down to look at his PET.

"Hmmm… An email from Legato… "Kuroban isn't fond of the word "gramps" so we better avoid its use on his earshot or he'll get at our necks for insulting elders' honor."… Well. Seeing how we Oriental people have always looked on with respect at the elders… What else? Apparently "Charon" or "Styx" is a fan of _Yu-Gi-Oh_ given how he was muttering aloud that on the room. Well! That's something."

"Heh, heh, heh. Found you! Ijuuin Enzan!"

"Shit. Video Man!"

"Get ready! Poporopu~a! Poporopu~a! Heck! There they go again: those jerks yelling at top voices! Someone ought to report them to the City Council! Hula, mulunga, xonga! Tatia, laguenya! Buana, buana! "Buana", "buana"… What a beating down I'd give you loud rascals! Simba, Tagoko, Lumba! Less kidding, "J-46"! We know that already: ya come from Alcarràs, man! Here you have… Heh, heh! Mr. Super's orders!" Video Man seemingly began to read some lines.

"What in the fucking…?" Enzan cursed.

"Come immediately and in secret to Head Quarters. Top-secret all-secret-agents meeting. Use secret entrance 78-B. Signed: Superintendent & Secretary."

"GRMBLJ! And to tell us that he made us come to some corner of Tanganika? Will you shut up, you morons! Poporou~a! Poporou~a! Alright, let's go! Towards Entry 78-B!"

"So, if I get it right… They were told to go to Tanganika and there given written instructions to go back to their HQ? What a waste of time, money and resources!" Enzan grumbled.

"It's good that they've picked the most secret of all entrances, right? Nobody ever thought of coming through this doorway! Note! The doorway has the sign "Public Library" on it! It's a running joke that most guys in these comics are illiterate and never come there! So what better cover than one nobody will bother to check twice?"

"That can't be true…" Enzan groaned.

"Hum! It'd seem that the other agents have arrived…"

"Yeah… The best and the elite of the secret service…"

"Hey! You! Return me my wrist-watch! I saw ya!"

"Lighters! I sell lighters at a good price!"

"My lighter! You rascal!"

"My wallet! They've picked off my wallet!"

"_Those_ are secret agents?" Enzan groaned in disbelief.

"Gentlemen! I have reunited you here because I need two volunteers for a very dangerous mission! It has to be two full men to whom risk is nothing, death doesn't scare them and danger is thrilling… Those who don't meet those conditions can leave! Magnificent! I knew I could count on you to lend me a hand!"

"What, of all of them only two remained?"

"Yessir! Heh, heh! Grjjj! We'd like to lend a hand to whoever nailed us to the floor!"

"No way… ALL of them wanted to flee but they nailed M&F so that they got chosen?" Enzan was exasperated by now.

"It's a running gag: they always get left behind!"

"Someone save me…"

08:57 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Alright. So I should get moving and start my job…"

BLAM, BLAM, BLAM!

"Net Police's Cyber CID! Open or the world will end!"

"Superintendent Oda~!"

"Heh, heh!"

SLAM!

"What the…"

Oda, Laika, and four agents forced open a hotel's room door to intercept a man on his forties who was largely bald and sported sunglasses over his eyes plus a brownish beard.

He simply wore a simple brown overcoat over a brown sweater, jeans and shoes.

"You must be Splinter, from the Seraphs' Sharo Branch. We've been looking for you." Laika told the man.

"How did you know I was here?"

"We got a tip." Laika dully replied.

"Seize him!" Oda ordered to the policemen.

The four men quickly handcuffed the man and led him out of the room along with Oda: Laika stayed to check the suitcase and found an envelope having the "Seraph" sign on its broken seal and which contained a computer-written letter.

"Let's see… Hmmm! Some kind of code! Written in Alphabet letters and reads the following: "Gorilla afternoon temple r high karaoke war totem o rummage antidote d invisible terror r robbery galaxy temperature his m abbey outlet t gong l device n stratosphere armadillo. Us e Andromeda y mellow thy odor s neck ceramics SS Arizona y. Reconsider pottery RT relay sultan LTS."… Hmpf…"

_What a crazy message!_

"Laika – sama. I can find a pattern." Search Man reported.

"That was fast. Tell me." Laika ordered.

"If you grab the first two letters of all words, including loose letters, you'll get a coherent message in English. The message, once decoded, says: 'Go after Hikawa Tooru and interrogate him about Golden Star. Use any methods necessary. Report results."…"

"Hikawa Tooru… That civilian, son of the Waterworks' director, who stumbled upon Kage installing a new security system there which was part of the "System"… They'd been classmates… So seeing how other classmates were surely protected by the Cyber CID they thought that this one would do… But maybe Kuroban didn't order for this and it was an operation started by someone else…" He muttered.

"So it'd seem, sir. Wait a minute, sir. Incoming phone call from an unknown encrypted source…"

"Yo!"

"Who…?"

"Uncle Moriarty's favorite nephew."

"Eisei Aaron!"

"That's the man's name."

"Whaddya want?"

"You got that guy, I see."

"How could you know?"

"TV! They're fast: they're already saying a man working for "some organization" got caught five minutes ago… And I happened to have seen the data on Splinter…"

"So this wasn't authorized by Kuroban?" Laika tried to guess next while looking suspicious.

"No. Number #7 set it up alone, it'd seem, apparently thinking of gaining favoritism from _aibou_."

"Favoritism, huh."

"And speaking of _aibou_. Who told you his name?"

"Dunno. Ijuuin said Zarashe had told him and that some man had left a file next to a "node" with the names…"

"That guy…!" Eisei grumbled.

"Oh? So you know who it was?"

"Oh yeah. No doubt anymore. The sneaky mouse." He fumed.

"Sneaky mouse? Whose?" Laika looked slightly interested.

"By "whose" you mean who is their employer? No-one! Solo." Eisei sighed in defeat.

"He acts solo?" Laika deduced.

"No, Solo is the guy's name." He corrected.

"Han Solo?" Laika tried to taunt.

"No! Some jerk named Solo." Eisei grumbled.

"Ah. I see. So they're named Solo."

"But _aibou_ wouldn't have approved of such methods! He doesn't care much about what goes on inside of Golden Star to begin with. He's busy enough with preparing everything for the weekend 'cause all's riding on it, see." Eisei shrugged.

"No doubt."

"By the way… Video Man's trailing ya."

"What!"

"Kidding. See ya!"

"Oi! Wait! Che! The sneaky rascal…!"

09:04 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Eh… Eisei…"

"What's up, Kazebun?"

"The "Seraph Tower"…"

"Something happened?"

"Slur showed up there."

"I know."

"I had to pull back."

"_Aibou_ didn't mind it. Even if they got the real-world address they have a headache about to hit them by trying to see how's that possible to begin with…"

"But Slur…!"

"She scared the guts outta you, I know. I was on the pyramid when she showed up too!"

"But the Viruses and automated Navis…! There were about 200 of them and they all attacked at the same time…!"

Eisei had been sitting in one of the living room's armchairs when Kazebun walked in and sat as well while looking nervous: Eisei didn't mind him much as he was seemingly playing some game on his Nintendo DSi console and humming a tune.

"Slur suddenly formed a red circle in the air, it gained some thickness and then energy poured out of the edges: that alone wiped half of the attackers but then she began to build up energy on her hands and shot two white spheroids at the others thus blasting them apart… And all of that happened in 9.57 seconds!"

"WHAT? 9.57 SECONDS?" Eisei looked up now.

"I'm serious! I timed it correctly and the sensors agreed with me! That's why she scares the hell outta me!"

"Oh how lovely." Eisei sighed.

"Truly. Now I'm being pessimistic at life."

"Don't say that aloud or _aibou_ will get annoyed.

"Why do you get to use such a… familiar… title with him?"

"Well! No big mystery… I was the orphaned type of guy who didn't let bullies get ahead of me so I beat them to a pulp and they soon grew to fear me… He heard about my intelligence, knew I'd once gone through a rough experience overseas but emerged unscratched, and that I was very capable of sneaking around to get info…" He laughed.

"So that's why he hired you?"

"Yeah. He also wanted someone to help him improve his Japanese and English. And it was somewhat funny for me to be the teacher and him the student… But I always was patient on that because I ended up having a lot of free time and I could go anywhere thanks to "Denpa – Henkan" yet sometimes I regretted not having someone to chat with. After we recruited Styx…"

"Styx? Who's that?"

"Charon."

"And where's the guy?"

"In Japan. But I can't be specific: top-secret and ya know."

"Fine."

"…then I dropped by to chat with him and knowing I could stir his true side behind those manners and all we were pretty honest with each other but he always was doubtful of saying anything which wasn't about gaming or such because he feared to harm my pride…"

"Oh. I see."

"Heh, heh, heh. So don't be scared and look confident."

"I'll try. Let's hope we score a goal sooner or later…"

09:37 AM (Japan Time)…

"… My lord."

"Dullahan? Why did you come?"

"I need to talk with thou."

"Alright. I'll listen. Talk."

"Dullahan" walked into Dread Baron's room and found him there, reading a book titled "Murder in the Nile" but he looked up to spot "Dullahan" standing there.

"It's about Styx…"

"Again?" He grumbled.

"Please wait a minute, sir."

"It better be worth it."

"He spends too much time unchecked."

"Ever heard of free time?"

"I know, sir, but…"

"Ever heard of leaves?"

"I know, sir, but…"

"Ever heard of not sticking your nose where you're not called for?"

"I know, sir, but…"

"Ever heard of paranoia?"

"Eh, yes, but it is not paranoia…"

"The hell it isn't!" He roared.

"Dullahan" quickly remained firm as if expecting some punishment: the man closed the book, stood up and threw it into the chair as he looked up at the two tiny spots on the chest.

"Du-lla-han." He hissed.

"My lord."

"You're making a fool of yourself. ONCE AGAIN."

"… True, my lord." He seemingly realized it was better to be truthful with his superior.

"Tell me. What mental age do you have?"

"Around mid-30s…"

"Well! Styx is 16. And yet he's behaving way more mature than you are, Dullahan. What part of "the past is dead" you don't get? I know you've got the intelligence! Else Prince Kuroban wouldn't have chosen you of all ones to be in this role."

"I am forever grateful to His Majesty."

"And that means screwing His orders?"

"Ah! Eh… No, true…"

"That's rebelling against those orders."

"Huh! True…!"

"So you're admitting you're not being loyal?"

"No, sir!"

"Styx has proven to be a competent man! You've had MONTHS to shine and he's only been working ever since 13 days ago!"

"B-but, sir, it isn't mere jealousy at him being the center of the public's attention…"

"It's BOTH jealousy AND paranoia. You're wasting my time: what about "Seraph Tower"? Will it be ready by Friday's evening? Will it be ready to be engaged by Saturday morning? Will the schedule be completed or there'll be some problem because you weren't paying enough attention to the supply lines? Do you want the whole thing to go to waste?"

"No, my lord!"

"THEN MOVE IT!"

"Yes, my lord!"

"And don't come bother me anymore! Prince Kuroban is under a lot of pressure and the last thing we need is internal bickering. Act like a man and not some idiotic military officer looking for spies under each and every pebble on his yard! MOVE IT!"

"Dullahan" walked out of the room while Dread Baron fumed and cursed something under his breath: "Dullahan" stopped one moment in the corridor and seemed to look at Styx's door but Dread Baron cleared his throat from behind and "Dullahan" quickly stepped into their room to close the door.

"I've had ENOUGH of this!"

_I have too, Baron – sama, sir… _

Styx hadn't missed anything while looking out through his door's keyhole and looked somewhat tired at the whole ordeal too: he'd taken off his shirt and sweater so as to leave his upper body naked: he stood up and sat on his bed's edge while sighing and closing his eyes.

"…_we should retreat!"_

"_Who is gonna retreat at the moment of glory?"_

"Huh! I almost fell asleep on the spot." He muttered as if he'd just snapped out of something.

He sighed and started to work with his laptop as if to shake off his defeated mood.

_Huh! Volume 38 of Pocket Monsters Special, the first in the "Platinum" Chapter, comes out in 10 days' time! Good! There'll soon be RAW scans and I'll be able to read it: I want to see what changes there'll be from the magazine format to the volume… Heh, heh, heh! Man! These two authors sure know how to make a good _manga_ too… Heh, heh, heh!_

09:49 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Weird."

"What's weird, Meijin?"

"I've had the feeling I was being followed for a while… Maybe I'm letting my imagination run wild?"

"Guess so!"

_No, you aren't, Meijin… You're the one who requested of the fair Serenade to help Hikari Netto and Rock Man… After you suffered grave injuries from Desert Man's attack on the Net Police HQ and had to be interned in a hospital around March, 2007… The Dream Virus thing and Gospel happened in January and February… March and April involved the fights against the "Darkloids" and Nebula… And June was the battle against the "Super Cybeast" after which I entered my four-year sleep… No – one seems to have ever figured out what happened to Rock Man during that one year gap in which he'd gone MIA… _

Solo had been trailing Meijin who was starting to realize something but he was no rival for Solo's hiding skills: he currently was hiding behind a heap of rubbish bins and cardboard boxes.

"Oi, Meijin! Someone's calling ya."

"Hello?"

"Yo! Meijin – kun!"

"Superintendent Oda… What have you found out about that man working for the "Seraphs"…?"

"Nothing nice."

"And by that you mean…?"

"Ex-KGB."

"Yikes."

_Ex-KGB! I've read enough to know that means "trouble"…_

"Ex-interrogator."

"Oh no."

"He had a search warrant on Sharo for 5 murders and 3 abductions in which he asked for high ransoms after breaking the victims' limbs to stop them from running away…" Oda grumbled.

"By all the…"

"But it'd seem this man has been hired from time to time by those "Seraphs" and isn't a "member" per se. One of the "High Council" approached him via three proxies to hire him. I won't say it over this line but… We should be glad we got him just in time."

"Truly." Meijin agreed on it.

"Fuck. What a herd of creeps."

_Che. Totally. Now I feel like going and discharging this bad mood on that Gray Thunderbolt man… I need to see how far my accelerated training has come to insofar because I've only been around for 4 days…_

"Anyway. Come to the HQ: there's something wrong with one firewall and we'd like of you to check it out along with Obihiro – kun. The better we check it out the better!"

"Roger."

"Oh! And bring some Merton cookies by the way."

"Roger and… What? Merton cookies? WHAT are THOSE?" Meijin asked with obvious surprise.

"Figure it out yourself, my fellow conspirer."

"Not again…" Meijin groaned.

_Hmpf… While you play around I'll go challenge that man and I'll soon be able to show Kuroban I'm the guy's worst nightmare! My blood's boiling by now…! I feel my antecessors' fighting instincts rising on me…! Let there be battling! Ready or not… Here I come!_


	14. Chapter 14: Clash

**Chapter 14: Clash**

11:11 AM (Japan Time), Tuesday February the 18th…

"… Busting and beating I go~…"

"There you are."

"Oho. You came."

"Stick out your neck."

"Sure, sure."

Gray Thunderbolt had been pacing and beating Viruses around the Reverse Internet when Burai dropped in front of him while having his sword already drawn: Gray Thunderbolt greeted him with a smile but Burai had a hostile face on.

"Eat this!"

"Elec Sword!"

Both swords interlocked but the hilt of Burai's sword nullified the electrical current produced by Gray Thunderbolt: he seemed to have been expecting this so he broke off and jumped backwards.

"Rocket Knuckle! It'll chase you to the Bermudas even!"

"Hmpf."

The "Rocket Knuckle" bounced off Burai's barrier and he quickly brandished his sword to cut it into pieces and then warp to hit Gray Thunderbolt with force and leaving a diagonal cut on his upper torso: Gray Thunderbolt grumbled.

"Plasma Gun!"

He drew his curious weapon and shot some rounds at Burai who either dodged them or didn't pay attention to them to Gray Thunderbolt's increasing frustration.

"Shit."

"Starting to realize the extent of your powerlessness?" Burai taunted in a dry tone of voice.

"Shaddup, you Mu lapdog!" He grumbled.

"Hmpf."

"Program Advance! Hi Cannon, Triple Slot In! Giga Cannon!"

"That's the best you can do?"

Burai calmly cut through the blast of the Program Advance and then jumped over to Gray Thunderbolt to slice the weapon into pieces to Gray Thunderbolt's growing nervousness: he got punched and kicked on his face and torso four times on a row and he began to get annoyed.

"T-this JERK!"

"So what."

"I'm fed up with this! It can't be that I, having trained for half a year, can be beaten by a guy who's been napping for 4 years and hasn't been active for 5 days even!" He cursed.

"I'd already been training for 10 years by the time I went into sleep. Six months is nothing compared to my 10 year-training."

"Program Advance! Vulcan, Triple Slot In! Mugen Vulcan!"

The rounds bounced off the shield and the ones which made contact didn't seem to affect Burai at all to begin with: Burai simply warped and began another four-hit-combo on Gray Thunderbolt who groaned and tried to remain on his feet.

"So? You are the source of the information?" A voice rang out.

"Oh shit. Slur."

"Slur, huh."

Both looked up to see Slur hovering on the air five meters above them and looking slightly interested given her creepy smug smile and the amusement displayed on her eyes: Burai didn't beat an eyebrow even.

"That's some power." He merely muttered.

"Man! What's with ya: how can this Navi not scare ya?"

"Nothing impresses me. Having felt Ra Mu's power for four continuous years was enough training." He dully replied.

"Ra Mu… So there is some plot going on apart from "Seraph Tower" and in which those three artifacts have a role to play?" She guessed.

"Yeah. But it doesn't involve you guys. It involves me and Kuroban. So don't get in MY way."

"Fine. Our interests lay within the lower echelons."

"Who are ya calling a lower echelon?" Gray Thunderbolt was pissed off by now given his face.

"Is that not the truth? You are under his command: you are not his equal so you and your companions are in a lower echelon."

"T-this GAL!" He cursed.

"As expected." She didn't beat an eyebrow even.

"Enough talk. Fight!" Burai told Gray Thunderbolt.

"Heavenly Thunderbolt!"

The grayish sphere formed in the air and began to make thunderbolts rain down: Burai seemed to be able to predict where they'd land at but he got absorbed on it and Gray Thunderbolt took the chance to hit him with the Elec Sword.

"Tank Cannon!"

The close-quarters blast pushed Gray Thunderbolt back and hit Burai but he didn't let out any sound and merely recoiled before looking up and having a bored face on: Gray Thunderbolt got annoyed again and he drew a sword the blade of which was shaped like a thunder: he rushed towards Burai while yelling.

"Thunderbolt Blade~!"

He hit Burai twice while swinging the blade left and right and then hit the floor with it to make a powerful thunderbolt rain down: Burai kept on looking unaffected.

"Or you're immune to pain or you're a double." He cursed.

"I've got no need for petty tricks like doubles."

"Then ya gotta be immune to pain!"

"I can withstand it: this armor is designed to nullify most of the damage and it barely makes my CNS react."

"Damn. Some super-thick material or WHAT?"

"Could be named so." He shrugged.

"I've got more in store!"

"And all of them will be in…"

"MURAMASA BLADE~!"

"The cursed blade! Nugro~h!"

"Oh. So you copied Blues…"

Gray Thunderbolt had drawn the Muramasa Blade and it _did_ have an effect on Burai: first, surprise and nervousness, and then real pain as it opened a cut through the armor and got to cut the one-piece bodysuit below it exposing his flesh and leaving a cut there but it was too thin to bleed: Burai quickly covered that spot with his right hand while Gray Thunderbolt panted and tried to remain on his feet given how he looked like he'd collapse any moment now.

"D-damn it… I never would've thought you'd brandish that cursed sword to begin with…" He cursed.

"Huff, huff… And this is nothing compared to the three-prong model Blues had a guy forge for him…! That was what beat me…! And now I've got 150 HP left! But you're at 75 HP! So I win!"

"Hmpf… By mere numbers…"

"What?"

"A true battle isn't decided on numbers: it's decided on the moment the opponent can't move anymore. Fool."

"W-wha~t?" He grumbled.

"Eat these!"

"Whack!"

"So true."

Burai suddenly lifted his right fist and made some purplish shockwaves travel across the ground thus hitting Gray Thunderbolt while he had his guard down: Burai jumped into the air, gripped the sword with both hands, and fell down while hitting the floor with it thus forming another bigger shockwave which hit Gray Thunderbolt again.

"Shit. I got distracted and I go down to 25 HP!" He cursed.

"Get it now?"

"NO! DAMN THEM ALL! I should be more powerful by now! I got rid of that weeping dude who got in the way! My power has doubled! I'll drag you along! Hra~h! Super Vulcan!"

"Hmpf."

Gray Thunderbolt shot the rounds but they had little to no effect on Burai who quickly rushed in and delivered an uppercut to Gray Thunderbolt's lower jaw to finish him off: he collapsed face-up on the floor, panting, and with Burai aiming his sword at him.

"It's not my mission to slay anyone. So consider yourself lucky. Soon enough I'll have risen to enough power to beat Kuroban." He dully told him.

He warped out of the area and Slur directed a taunting smile at Gray Thunderbolt before warping out too: he cursed under his breath.

_THAT FUCKING BASTARD! _

11:33 AM (Japan Time)…

"… There's nothing weird over here, Raoul."

"Keep on looking, Thunder Man."

"Why do we have to be Colonel's proxies, anyway?"

"Politics."

"Jeez."

"Besides! We only want to see if his hypothesis is right."

"Alright, alright…"

Thunder Man was walking across a warehouse district in the outskirts of Internet City and chatting with Raoul: he sounded resigned but Raoul was calm and collect.

"Hum! That one."

"That one…? Oh yeah. They put their logo on it even."

Thunder Man halted when he spotted that the warehouse in the leftmost edge of the row had a discreet banner with the "Golden Star" logo drawn on it so he walked over to it and slowly pulled the door open to see nine crates arranged in a matrix occupying the ground floor while the first floor didn't seem to have anything on it: the crates had some dust on them and it was obvious they'd been there for a while already: Thunder Man checked their labels.

"Standard Chips: 000 – 075. 076-150. 151-225. 226-250. Mega Chips: 000-040. 041-079. Giga Chips: 000-012. Program Advance Memos: 000-030. Huh? "Stuff picked from the old man: DO NOT OPEN. Samples for development of a vaccine: DO NOT OPEN. Alarm-rigged: DO NOT OPEN. DO NOT USE. VP _Noir_."… Hmmm… What "old man"?" Thunder Man wondered.

"Take a photo at the very least."

"Done."

"Can you see if it's really alarm-rigged?"

"It is." A voice rang out.

A "hole" opened in the sky and Cosmo Man floated down from it while looking calm and collected: he gracefully landed in front of the crate and swung his right arm towards it to protect with a cubical "Dimensional Area" before facing Thunder Man.

"So. Colonel's proxy came in." He merely said.

"Well… Yeah… That guy's using me as his proxy."

"And you doubt of the Net Police's Cyber CID's word?"

"Well, Barrel seems to." Raoul admitted.

"Ever heard of "private property" and "search warrants"?"

"We know, but…"

"Ever heard of "trespassing" and "self-defense"?"

"Uh-oh."

"Go back."

Thunder Man didn't need to be told twice: he ran off at mad speed before Raoul could say anything about it and didn't stop until he was 800 meters away from the place and panting.

"That guy was about to beat me to a pulp!" He protested.

"Alright, alright."

"Let's go back but I'm gonna tell Colonel I don't intend to be his bloody proxy anymore!" Thunder Man protested.

"I'll ring the man up."

"Yeah. Let's get straight to the point!"

"Raoul. So?"

"We got photos."

"Send them to me. Any trouble?"

"Yeah. Cosmo Man came in and told us off."

"Obviously…" Barrel wasn't surprised.

"Colonel! You're there?

"Yeah. What's up?"

"I'm not gonna be your proxy anymore!"

"Fine."

"Get it?"

"Yeah. They must be laughing at us by now. Next time I'll go in person and get to the bottom of this."

"I thought you had to be on the lookout because some General guy worked for those "Seraphs" or so the NSA told you."

"I know but they're the ones handling it. I can't do anything. And I don't believe that Golden Star is as transparent as they say they are."

"Is our own country transparent to begin with?" Raoul shot back.

"Well…" He trailed off.

"Don't we have secrets too?"

"Well… True, but…"

"Then I fail to see why you're not concerned about the "Seraphs" who can pull things like a giant city-wrecking "UFO" and instead you get obsessed with exposing each secret in Golden Star. I'm sure that most of the members don't know them either." Raoul rolled his eyes.

"This 9th crate is picking my nose."

"But they'll be smart enough to move it elsewhere."

"Che. Bothersome guys." Barrel grumbled.

"Come on… What a stubborn guy!"

11:47 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Styx… Since I have no orders concerning you today, I will allow you to go out of the refuge and have some free time."

"Thank you very much, my lord."

"Being shut up here the whole day is not good for your health: you need to see horizons and have some life for real."

"May I warn you of one thing, my lord?"

"I know: Dullahan will come up with paranoia. I'll handle that: the Prince has told me he wants to make a check on him and I'm sure that by the time it's over Dullahan will have learned the hard way not to be a paranoid idiot."

"That is good, my lord. If you shall excuse me…"

"Go. But be back before 6 PM."

"Roger."

Styx was speaking with Dread Baron inside of the refuge and he was bowing in front of him as he stood with the armchair behind him: Styx then headed back to his room and put a black t-shirt and a red wool sweater to then pick his overcoat and sunglasses: his next step was to pick the wallet and he headed out into the corridor only to find Dullahan blocking his way.

"Intending to backstab us?" He icily questioned.

"DULLAHAN! What's the meaning of THIS?" Dread Baron rushed over.

"This man, sir…"

"…has been authorized by me to come out! YOU IMBECILE!"

Dullahan quickly stepped aside while Styx played deaf and merely saluted to his superior before pressing a tile on the wall and opening the exit which closed.

"The Prince will talk with you." Dread Baron hissed.

"H-His Majesty will?" He gasped.

"Yeah. Dullahan. You're disappointing me."

"P-Prince!"

Kuroban suddenly came in through the entrance and he did look rather disappointed.

"I heard from Styx. You were accusing him without any solid proof and out of paranoia. You're making a fool of yourself and I'm starting to question if I should've bothered to rebuild you and give you this post to begin with when I could've used a run-of-the-mill Navi. Dread Baron here has repeated all I said: you're not acting in a mature manner. You may return to your quarters, Dread Baron. I'll handle this."

"By your orders."

Dread Baron headed out while Kuroban fumed: Dullahan remained still as a statue and Kuroban glanced at his two cameras as if exchanging a glare with the Navi inside of the machine.

"Tell me. Has Styx ever done something outside of his orders in these six months?"

"No, sir."

"And you?"

"… Several times, sir."

"See the difference right there?"

"Yes, sir."

"How do you justify it?"

"Eh… Well, sir… Styx did do something foolish in the past, sir."

"What part of the "past is dead" you don't get?"

"But I thought one is supposed to learn from mistakes in the past…"

"Well. That's true. But that doesn't matter here. Orders matter."

"Yes, sir."

"And you SCREWED them."

"… True, sir."

"You think I'm an idiot?"

"No, sir!" He gasped in fear.

"You think I'm guiding the "Seraphs" towards self-destruction?"

"No, sir!"

"You can act all you want but I know you're thinking that without having to read your logs even. I know a lot of human nature and Navi nature by extension." He warned.

"I am to be punished, sir?"

"Obviously! You can't get in Styx's way: last chance! If not I'll shut you down for a whole fortnight! "Seraph Tower" is running smoothly by now and it'll be activated this Saturday morning as scheduled. You should be ashamed, seeing how Styx is the one behaving in a disciplined manner and not you." Kuroban grumbled.

"Roger, sir…"

"Last. Chance." He hissed.

"Yes, sir!"

"And don't piss me off anymore."

"It wasn't my intention, sir!"

"Bullshit." Kuroban shot back.

"Is t-that so, sir?"

"Of course! You NITWIT!"

"Roger, sir…!"

"LAST CHANCE! GET ME, YOU? LAST – CHANCE! LAST! FINAL!"

"Roger, sir!"

"NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"

"Roger, sir…!"

Dullahan quickly strode into his own quarters while Kuroban cursed something in a foreign idiom.

"Alright, Dread Baron. You can take a break if you wish to as well: you've done great these five years."

"Thank you very much, sir."

"Ah! And beware if Number Six suddenly comes up with some strange command and doesn't mention me: he could be trying to come up with something to bring merits to him and think he can gain favoritism from me but there'll be no such thing because it leads to favors, corruption, plots and such." He warned.

"Roger."

"Well. I'm off. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Prince."

Kuroban headed out of the refuge but stopped in the corridor to glance at Dullahan's door: he stepped closer and he suddenly saw that it was open by a very thin margin.

"Shut this door you dime novel spy." He growled.

The door was quickly shut so Kuroban fumed.

"If you do that again then you'll be asking for it: I'll come in person and shut you down myself!" He yelled.

"R-roger, sir!"

"HMPF!"

Kuroban came out while Dread Baron sighed in defeat.

_Dullahan… When will you become a mature man…?_

12:05 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hum… Yeah. My idea fits with the data. I guess I'll be able to present it to the Net Police by tomorrow…"

"That is good, Enzan – sama."

_Playing Holmes, Ijuuin?_

Enzan had been enjoying an orange juice in a café somewhere but failed to notice Styx looking at him from a nearby table partly hidden by a decorative plant.

"Yo." A voice rang out from Enzan's PET.

"Who…?"

"… Crap! Now that the bin's weight is gone this balloon is gonna bring us to the stratosphere! We gotta do something!"

"Yes, Boss! Count on me! Done! Heh, heh! If this balloon wants to go the stratosphere, then it'll go there alo…NE~!"

"Burner Man!" Blues exclaimed.

"Today Burner Man? Who'll be next, Needle Man?"

"Heh, heh, heh. Video Man says you're the skeptical guy so I'm gonna try cha out. Let's see what stuff ya are made of, _Danna_."

"Oh how lovely." Enzan cursed.

"I've reached Earth! I'll come out in a careful and expecting manner: slowly… CLONG! CLANG! TCHAC!"

"So?" Enzan grumbled.

"Well! M&F were riding a balloon and M cut the rope so they fell down and crashed atop the alien's craft: the alien was propelled outta it and crashed with a steel beam someone had abandoned there: it snapped three quarters of it off with his teeth and brandished it as a weapon! Oh crap! The alien's ripped off the beam with one bite! And it's coming straight at us!"

"How obvious." Enzan drily replied.

"Huff! Don't worry! I'll prove that I can do the same thing and we'll get to the same level! There's another beam! TCHAC! So? Did you bite it off? Well… Yeah, Boss… Two teeth gone and some are shaking!"

"What an idiot."

_Don't tell me!_

"Well then! Run! Run! It's coming over here~! OH CRAP! Oh my! I'd never seen a mushroom chasing people before. My artichokes! They're stepping over them! We're leaving it behind! Yeah… We've saved our heads from a heavy blow! BONG! GL, GL, GL…! Bloody hell! And next comes one of those "hippies"! Gotcha! Gotcha! One, two and…! THREE! PTAF! GL, GL, GL!"

"What in the bloody hell…?" Enza cursed.

"Heh, heh, heh! They began to crush some artichokes and the farmer in charge of them hit them in the head with his wooden stick to then kick the alien skywards!" Burner Man laughed.

_Oho. How funny!_

"There's more?" Enzan sighed in defeat.

"Alright! Take out the crushed artichokes, you place them again and you'll pay for them! Y-yes, sir, yes… Ow! My kidneys! Mission complete, Prof! The invader is checking Saturn's rings to see if he builds a racing course there… Magnificent! To celebrate it we'll uncork this artichoke juice aperitif! ARTICHOKE! ARTICHOKE!"

"They'd had enough artichokes for the rest of their lives, obviously enough, I can guess that." Enzan muttered.

"Hey! What's this? There's a pair of glasses in the coffee! Well! You should remember it's a short… sighted coffee. OW! Get me outta 'ere! I'm burning! I lost my glasse~s!"

"They stuffed him inside of the coffee machine?"

"Bravo!"

_Heh, heh, heh. That Ibañez guy is a genius, really!_

"What idiocy." Blues growled.

_You never laugh?_

"Well! I'm off! Needle Man will drop by one day. _No pain no gain_, Ijuuin Enzan and Blues! Heh, heh, heh!"

_How true, my fellow conspirer!_

"Well! If it isn't the naughty boy…"

"Ikada Bertha."

"My. What a hostile face. I didn't come to sell you cheap stuff, you know, Ijuuin."

_Oho. A Golden Star member in person…! _

Ikada had suddenly showed up and she looked up to something: Sandra was rolling her eyes as if foreseeing something bad.

"Will you bet on the dice?"

"Bet _what_ on the dice?"

"Your luck."

"You don't bet luck: you hope you have luck when betting."

"Tee, heh, heh. That's the kind of answer I was looking for. Well then, I'll be on my way, big boy… _Ciao_."

"Hmpf…"

Enzan grumbled something after Ikada came out of the café: he stood up and headed over to the counter to pay while Styx discreetly finished drinking a Coca-Cola.

_Well then, Ijuuin… Good luck. Maybe I'll drop by your place one day now that I know where it's at… Heh, heh, heh… I'm so sneaky~!_

19:20 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Yo. Enzan. Welcome."

"So it's only you tonight?"

"Well! What were you expecting? Netto – kun has to rise early tomorrow for school and such. He's very serious about it, see. You should've called by the weekend."

"But there'll be the "Seraph Tower" thing."

"Well. Next weekend."

"Too long of a wait."

"Alright… Truth is… It's the first time I've done this honestly with someone else which wasn't Netto – kun…"

"I don't care. You did get to stuff it on me in the summer."

"Yeah. But now we've decided to shelve those aside because it's not something to be taken lightly."

"Whatever. I just feel like having fun tonight."

"Alright. Let's hope Legato and Blues don't fight."

"They'll have their avatars fight."

"You mean Link and Captain Falcon in the _Great Melee Smash Brothers X_ game, eh?"

"Sure."

Enzan had come into Kuroshiro's room that same evening and he began to chat with him as they both undressed: they then climbed into the bed and Enzan grinned as he loomed over Kuroshiro: he returned the gaze in a calm manner.

"Man. No wonder Hikari went and seized you there, on the spot: you're so damned hot."

"Guess so." He shrugged.

"I'm gonna tease you for a while."

"Sure."

"You're the type who prefers to let the other set the pace, eh?"

"Of course."

"No problem for me: I was fed with Laika's coldness and his smug attitude at using me as his play-thing."

"Yeah. That's why I can't stand the guy either. Come on! They had like 40 seconds to scan the guy and if they'd bothered to do that they'd figured out it was a fake." Kuroshiro fumed.

"Yeah. They were stupid, really, but in the end they helped bring down that fake." Enzan shrugged.

He began to rub Kuroshiro's nipples but he didn't seem to notice it: Enzan tried licking but got nowhere either.

"You'll have to try harder, Enzan! Netto – kun has had me build up resistance because it amuses him to try to crack it."

"So the guy set up safeguards! This is a challenge, then!"

"Guess so!"

Enzan tried to pull them or spin them left or right but Kuroshiro behaved as if he could feel nothing: he hummed a tune and looked at a holographic projection the ceiling displaying all _Pocket Monsters_ games' boxes and their cover Pokémon: Enzan tried to bite the nipples next but didn't get anywhere.

"Shit. I give up, alright. What's the trick?"

"Something named "V"…" He teased.

"Vice? Victory? Volley? Vest? Vicar?"

"Vicar! Ain't this Japan?" Kuroshiro laughed.

"Well… Veil?"

"Veil? Do you think I put on a veil?"

"Che. I should think things twice before saying them…"

"Hey! Waiter! Bring me a chair!"

"What, another?"

"Yes, sir. Excuse me, sir… Can I pick this chair, sir? Yes. But of course. Go ahead. Thank you very much, sir. Here you have, sir! BLOM! GRRR! This chair's MINE! BLOM! Here you have! Bring this chair over here, you moron! UA~H! The chair's mine! PTAF! Shave me! PTOF! Eat chair! THUD! OUCH! WHACK!"

"Let me guess: the waiter picked the chair _one customer was using_ and he fell into the ground _to then start fighting with the other over the chair_, is that it?" Enzan sighed.

"Bravo, Holmes."

"But… What's going on? I don't know: it'd seem they're fighting over a chair… You know! There are guys who start a ruckus for no reason. Well! Let's get down to business… A "UFO" has dropped in the beach! It'll be a piece of a cake this time around! It can't be larger than twenty centimeters in diameter! So then… Go! Get there ASAP and destroy it! OK, Prof!"

"Up until there is logical enough. What's the "V" thing?"

"Vibrator!"

"Oh man! I was forgetting something. Whatever. I'll go in."

"Be my guest, Holmes."

"Yeah, I know, Sebastian Moran."

"Good catch!"

Enzan seemingly began to thrust in and out but Kuroshiro simply closed his eyes and hummed a tune.

"G-Cis, G-Cis… Hum, hum… G-Cis, G-Cis…"

"G-Cis?" Enzan frowned.

"Didn't you play _Pocket Monsters Black & White_?"

"No."

"He's the head of the Plasma Gang and the last "boss" and I gotta say the sound team got daring here to come up with a creepy drum-filled melody including a creepy chorus…" Kuroshiro laughed.

"Hum. And you picked "Black"?"

"Yeah. I honored my codename. Legato picked "White" and so we began to trade and I did so with Netto – kun and Saito too."

"You don't envy Saito or something like that?"

"No. Why should I? It's thanks to him that I live today."

"Good point. Huh! I'm going off. Man. That felt good." Enzan suddenly sighed in relief.

"Didn't it?"

"By the way, regarding "Seraph Tower"… I've got info but I'll relay it to the Net Police tomorrow morning."

"Alright. Tomorrow's a Wednesday so there'll still be time to act before Saturday morning. Shake 'em all, Governor!" Kuroshiro grinned at Enzan while looking amused.

"Let's see your stuff."

Enzan pulled out the covers and looked at Kuroshiro's cock which he seized and began to lick before taking it inside of his mouth: Kuroshiro closed his eyes and silently let the experience make him feel good before he released.

"Ah! I was missing this." He muttered.

"What, Hikari doesn't do that?"

"Of course he does. It's just that it's been some days…"

"Alright. Try me on for a change."

"Heh! Alright. Let's see if it got bigger since the summer or it's become rusty." Kuroshiro giggled.

"Try it out, then."

Kuroshiro loomed over Enzan and quickly stuffed his hardened cock into Enzan's ass: he began to move while Enzan simply closed his eyes, placed both hands behind his head, and hummed a tune: Kuroshiro increased his pace until he released with a sigh of pleasure.

"Good! It felt smooth."

"Try my flavor!" Enzan challenged.

"Sure."

Kuroshiro tried Enzan's cock next and Enzan kept the same pose: Kuroshiro, however, sneered and gripped Enzan's balls all of a sudden thus making him gasp in surprise: Kuroshiro finished sucking it off and then went in for a kiss: Enzan was taken in by the moment and joined him until they broke apart, panting.

"Man. Hikari taught you that one?"

"Nope! That's mine."

"You can be sneaky when you want to."

"That's my style, Enzan – chan!" He giggled.

"This guy…" He laughed.

"Well! Let's wrap up. And wouldn't you know? That "UFO" happened to be the tip of a larger "UFO" buried in the sand which had a small hatch but even so allowed for a gigantic armless invader to come out. It happened to be a robot which was beaten by F touching it: anything he touches ends up breaking!" Kuroshiro laughed.

"No way…" Enzan joined the laughter.

"Tune in for the next chapter, my fellow conspirers!"


	15. Chapter 15: Secrets

**Chapter 15: Secrets**

08:49 AM (Japan Time), Wednesday February the 19th…

"… Enzan – sama, sir… It is close to 9 AM, sir…"

"Hmmm… Heh… I like it that you're using that Copy Roid Kuroshiro gave you yesterday evening… Anyway… I better wake up and head over to the shower. Say, I got an idea."

"Is that so?"

"Let's share the flat."

"Roger, sir."

"But that's not an order."

"Excuse me, sir?"

"I think I've been unfair with you. Let's try to be like Holmes and Watson and get alone as friends."

"I'll… try. Enzan… kun… would be fine?"

"Yeah. Good try. I'll go get dressed."

Enzan was roused out of sleep by materialized Blues: he woke up with a good mood and came up with an idea as he stood up and faced Blues: he then headed out of the room while Blues sat on a chair in the kitchen and seemed to be thinking about the idea.

"Well! It sounds like a wise thing to do…" He muttered.

"Of course it is!" Enzan grinned as he came in.

"Shall I…?"

"Don't worry! We'll prepare each other's portions."

"Ah… Eh… Thank you."

"Heh, heh, heh!"

"What's so funny, Enzan… kun?"

"It'll be interesting to see your evolution."

"Oh man."

"Heh, heh, heh. Alright! Here I go! Cooking Man!"

"Cooking Man… He's gotten cocky…"

"Shah, shah, shah! So this is Blues' place!" Needle Man's voice rang out through the Link PET.

"Oho. The third one came."

"Enzan – sama: what should I do?"

"Let them be!"

"What?"

"They're not the enemy and I wanna hear more gags today." Enzan blinked Blues the right eye.

"Oh how lovely."

"Well! We've gathered all cocktail ingredients! But I'll insist that this spot on the recipe means… Ah come on! Whaddya know? Now I shake it in a pro manner and… BOOM!"

"Molotov cocktail?" Blues tried to guess.

"W-well… You were right, Boss… "NG" meant "_naranja gorda_" and not "nitroglycerin"… "_naranja gorda_" means "big orange"…"

"NYTROGLYCERIN?" Both uttered.

"Hey! You two! Wash your faces: there's job to be done! The "Anti-UFO" of the detection center says one is on approach course… Here's the center's address. They'll signal to you where the artifact will land so that you can dispose of it! Go for it!"

"Well. That sounds more realistic." Blues muttered.

"It's gotta be a super-lab filled with ultra-sensible stuff, right? Oh yeah! The palace of cosmic science!"

"Speculation." Blues summed up.

"Oh my! Acorn Street, 15… Well… Here it is, Boss! Good morning. Is this the "UFO Detection Center"? Yea, that's me: I'm the clerk in charge, if ya get me. Well then… Where's that famous "Anti-UFO"? Oh yes! There you have 'im: Santi! WHAT? A CAT…? THUD! SPLASH! Yea, that's why I name 'im Santi "flying saucer", do cha get it? Whenever he sees a saucer with milk on it he gets in a terrible mood and sends both saucer and milk flying, see!"

"You gotta be kidding me. So the Professor misunderstood and in truth it meant to say some cat named Santi but the "S" was skipped and it sounded like "Anti Flying Saucer"?" Blues groaned.

"Oho. Good one."

"Ever since he tasted some he only wants to drink a jug of wine. GRMBLJ! And that talk about detecting "UFOs"…? That's true! When one comes closer it gets nervous… Like now! See it? PFFF… And shots out like a berserk express train: better hope no-one gets on its way because if not… PFMEO~W! BOING! See? I told you this cat has bad mood! GRRRFJ! And now's left! How do we know where the "UFO" will land at? Oh! Piece of a cake! If the cat went off in that direction then the saucer will land over there, that's all there's to it!"

"What happened with the cat?" Blues seemed to frown.

"Shah, shah, shah! M got in the middle, got kicked into the air and merged his head with the ground!"

"How stupid."

"…"Over there"… That's something! It really is a very scientific method, eh, Boss?"

"I catch the sarcasm." Blues muttered.

"Alright! Breakfast is done by so our _chauffeur_ will pick us up!" Enzan announced with a broad grin.

"I preferred the dry and hostile Enzan – sama."

09:18 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Alright. After a good gym session I'll go… Dullahan. What are you doing blocking my way again?"

"Whom did you conspire with yesterday?"

"Wha~t? Do you have Alzheimer's disease or WHAT? Didn't Baron – sama tell you HE authorized my exit? And I met the Prince who said he was going to talk with you!"

"His Majesty talked with me. But he suspects you."

"Oh yeah? Proof, please?"

"Who needs proof? You are enough proof."

"A court won't think so."

"No need for courts. The Prince will decide."

"Dullahan…!"

"Huh! B-Baron – sama? I thought that you were sleeping, sir…"

"You don't know that I always am an early riser after six months? I'm starting to wonder if there's something wrong with your memory storage directories: you wouldn't happen to have a problem there with your own cache, would you?"

"No, sir…"

"Not only you ignore the Prince's commands you try to manipulate his words for your own profit!"

"Eh…"

"GET OUT OF MY SIGHT OR I'LL TEAR YOU APART WITH A CHAINSAW I HAVE ON THE CAR'S TRUNK!"

"YIKES!"

Dullahan ran out of the gym's doorway after Dread Baron caught him trying to accuse Styx: Dread Baron cursed something.

"By Athens! That Navi's idiotic or what?"

"It would seem so, sir." Styx saluted.

"He's the one conspiring to begin with!"

"True, sir."

"A court doesn't matter… Tell that to the millions who settle things in courts or courts to judge crimes!" He fumed.

"Maybe we should transfer him elsewhere?"

"Maybe we should lock him inside of the body and impede him from moving as punishment: let that idiot experience how serious we are about punishing idiots!" Dread Baron hissed.

"Yes, sir."

"I'm at wits' end! I wish Saturday would come already: I'll have to ask for a break and once my duty is over I'll request a change of department! I've been told you can apply for that too."

"I will follow Baron – sama wherever he goes."

"But would you be capable of standing office work and all?"

"Ah! Good point. Maybe I can request a post like reserve agent on reserve ready to come out and do some job."

"That could be, too."

"… He hasn't closed his door fully and I can hear the hum of his body as he listens to us." Styx suddenly whispered.

"DULLAHAN! SHUT THE DAMNED DOOR OR I'LL BRING THE CHAINSAW! WORSE! I'LL HAVE THE PRINCE COME AND DISABLE YOU! NOBODY IGNORES THE COMMANDS OF THE PRINCE~!"

CLAC!

_And he still brags that running away back there was smart. Dullahan, you moron. Resisting before being captured was smarter back then._

10:22 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Alright. I, Meijin – kun, Obihiro – kun, Hikari – hakase, Laika – kun and Ijuuin – kun are present. So, Ijuuin – kun. Regarding "Seraph Tower"… What have you figured out?"

"Everything, sir."

"Really?"

"So! Where is it at?"

"Why, underneath Constitution Boulevard."

"WHAT?"

A meeting had begun in the Net Police's Cyber CID's meeting room and Enzan brought forth surprising news.

"But there isn't any underground tunnel there!" Yuuichirou protested while frowning.

"Civilian, not. Military, yes. JSDF: 1977."

"1977! A tunnel built almost 45 years ago?" Oda gasped.

"Yes, sir. There's another 2.4 kilometers west which was built in 1998 with better tech and designed to be easily upgraded to high-speed technology while the other was abandoned: both are freight supply tunnels built when the district hadn't been massively populated yet."

"I see! And there's enough space to fit the tower?"

"Undoubtedly because the Densan Tower was built right southwards of one of the extraction pits which was sealed up but I believe it has been redesigned during the construction of the tower to be opened up with ease while at the same time the larger tower was designed in a conventional manner back in 2003 to be opened in 2006. But ever since then the main blueprints and the architect have gone missing."

"Then, they'll use the old extraction pit to bring "Seraph Tower" to the surface?"

"True. And I've found out something else: lately some kind of spotlights have been installed around the zone even though there'd never been a need for them but the ones who set them up had papers from the City Council and all saying they were to illuminate the tower during the night to avoid any plane accidents. But Golden Star dug out something else on their investigations…"

"And that is…?" Obihiro asked.

"That those spotlights can generate 3D images: and there's some sequence programmed somewhere it shows that a local-scale "Dimensional Area" will surround a building and then shift in the spectrum to hide it from sight while the spotlights project the image of the tower sinking into the ground as a prelude to the emergence of "Seraph Tower" into the ground: real dust will be blown to make the thing more realistic and dramatic." Enzan detailed.

"They sure go out of their way." Oda muttered.

"They're fond of dramatics."

"So it'd seem." Laika merely muttered.

"And where's the tunnel's entrance?"

"An abandoned building in the 2nd district, close to the NW edge of Densan City… The compound is private and some trucks always unload material there which is then freighted to the tower. Golden Star suspects they've been using self-replicating robots to do the job. Not unlike how they used automated Net Navis to build _Purgatory_…"

"Speaking of which: what will they do when the tower shows up? Leave the job to us or…?"

"No. They'll go and fight them." Enzan calmly replied.

"I approve." Oda announced.

"If Superintendent Oda approves…" Laika shrugged.

"Oh! By the way…" Meijin called out.

"What's up?"

"They seem to have gained a sudden interest in Golden Star: all files on last year's investigations and such have been hacked into from the inside and copied." Meijin reported.

"How curious…" Obihiro was surprised.

"It could fit with that man we arrested."

"It could, yes." Oda rubbed his chin.

"We made sure they're extradited to Sharo. They'll handle the man over there but I wouldn't be surprised if they hang them."

"They got it coming, anyway." Enzan shrugged.

"Attention all staff: Kaitou Kid will drop by and steal Doito's golden tooth tonight at 21:00 PM." A voice announced.

"Doito? Who's that?" Oda wondered.

"… It doesn't show up on our databases." Blues quickly reported.

"That whole struggle and the "UFO" turned out to be a remote-controlled toy."

"Guess that's M&F."

"Wanna go _Smoke & Mirrors_?"

"I'd heard of that." Obihiro frowned.

"Obihiro's laptop is in danger of having a heart attack."

"W-w-WHAT?" He uttered.

"Ijuuin's hair is in danger of turning gray."

"W-w-WHAT?"

"_Danna_'s hat is in danger of being eaten by a cow."

"W-w-WHAT?"

"Laika's coat is in danger of being burnt at the stake."

"W-w-WHAT?"

"Meijin's coffee is in danger of becoming spicy."

"W-w-WHAT?"

"… Weird. There's no – one here… A record?"

"Dunno…"

"Those are employees, I think." Oda frowned.

"Ah! You're back, my lads? Were you able to destroy that "UFO"? But… What's going on? You've got a weird expression on… Those clenched teeth… Those inflated eyeballs… That purple-like color…"

"Pure anger." Blues muttered.

"Obviously." Search Man added.

"Guess the _Danna_ will have to run for his hide." Punk muttered.

"GLUB! GRMBL! Open up…! I'm drow… glub… drowning! Get me outta the cocktail pot…! This ruckus…? Nothing out of the ordinary! Today's beverages are rather strong, you know?"

"Come on…" Enzan looked skeptical.

"Admiral Smith will bite Meijin's glasses."

"W-w-WHAT?"

"Admiral Smith will turn Ijuuin into a punk."

"W-w-WHAT?"

"Admiral Smith will switch _Danna_'s hat for a Prussian helmet." The voice announced next.

"W-w-WHAT?"

"Admiral Smith will switch Laika's cap for a King Land Tower of London watchman's hat."

"W-w-WHAT?"

"Admiral Smith will switch Obihiro's precious laptop for a hammer to whack-a-mole."

"W-w-WHAT?"

"Admiral Smith will ride on _Silver Blaze_ and storm this building with the 11th of Cavalry." The voice was hardly muffling the laughter.

"Superintendent Oda, sir! There's no – one in the room, sir! No – one has come in but all of our attempts to stop the equipment are impaired and our two Navis haven't replied ever since we sent them in!"

"Ijuuin – kun! Laika – kun! Meijin! Send your Navis there on the double: someone's hijacking our PA system!" Oda commanded.

"Roger!"

The three Navis rushed through the system and entered a new Cyber World to find two knocked out Net Navis and a scarecrow set in front of the controls with a Program – kun's face which was the one talking in what apparently was a recording.

"What the hell is that?" Punk cursed.

"Well… Someone's idea of Tim Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas", maybe?" Obihiro suggested.

"Somehow that wouldn't surprise me." Meijin muttered.

"Or more like a randomly improvised collage." Yuuichirou ventured next without being too surprised.

"Yamato Man will found the _Bushido Samurai Club 2011_."

"I hope that guy doesn't listen to it or he'll walk across earth and sky to find the culprit who insulted his honor and challenge him to a fight over that." Blues grimly muttered.

"Let's hope so, yeah." Search Man muttered.

"Who the hell did this, anyway?" Punk cursed aloud.

11:07 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Phew! Break time… I was looking forward to it!"

"Who wasn't?"

"Hey! Netto! Saito! Did ya know? I just…"

"…come up with a DAMNED LIE!"

"Yikes! Meiru!"

"Do cha want to feel my cold anger?"

"Ua~h!"

"So? What's up?"

"Who is "K. O.", Netto?"

"Not that again…"

"And what's with… Kage – kun's… silver ring?"

"Ever heard of "Need Not To Know"…?"

Netto and Saito had come out into their school's yard to enjoy the break-time when Ooyama Dekao showed up from behind to bother them with some made-up tale but Sakurai Meiru directed an annoyed glare at him which made him run: both twins seemed to guess what she wanted to ask of them: she lowered her voice to a whisper and narrowed her eyes as if she was suspecting something.

"Answer me!"

"Look. You know about _Pocket Monsters Black & White_?"

"… Yeah. I know whom you mean."

"Then use logic to fill the rest: I'm surprised you didn't catch on in the summer." Netto sighed.

"… You gotta be KIDDING me." She got annoyed.

"I'm not. End of the tale. See ya."

"Not so fast, you!" She snapped.

"I won't go into details." Netto tried to dismiss her.

"How could you do that to me?"

"My bad. I was only thinking of myself back then. The circumstances made me build it up." He shrugged.

"Yeah. What's done is done. The past is dead. We buried it to begin anew, from zero." Saito added.

"Or would you have preferred me to remain dull and bored with life during this period starting at September, 2008?" He warned.

She gasped and seemed to realize something so she nervously glanced around before turning upon her heels and rushing away: the twins ignored it and sat on a bench without noticing a CCTV camera looking towards them.

_Heh, heh, heh. Trouble with girls, you guys? Ya should be careful 'cause that guy had that gal backing 'im up and she was quite capable! She was a first-rate investigator too! Heh, heh, heh! _

"I did it! I did it!" Dekao rushed in.

"What did you do, Dekao?" Netto asked.

"I saved a damsel of 4th year in distress!" He grinned.

"Cha! Cha big-mouthed macho liar! Shaddup!" Ayanokouji Yaito snapped at him as she showed up.

"Yikes!"

"I knew it." Saito muttered.

"What did you know, Saito?" He grumbled.

"That you made it up. As always. According to Rock Man's count this is the 1578th time you've made up a tale since September, 2008."

"1578th time~?" He uttered.

_Whoa. 1578__th__ time. That's some compulsive liar._

"See that, cha?"

"Come on, Ooyama – kun. Be civilized." Hikawa protested as he joined the chatter.

"Hikawa! You saw it, right! I saved a damsel in distress!"

"I didn't see anything: I've just come from the classroom because I was commenting one little thing with the teacher."

"1579th time." Saito announced.

"NO WAY!"

"Way." The four of them immediately replied.

"You're bullying me!"

"This isn't bullying. We're being skeptical."

"True! Ooyama – kun! How many times do we have to discuss this behavior of yours?" A teacher walked over to him.

"Yikes! _Sensei_! Eh…"

"You've spent over two and a half years lying!"

"No, sir, I was…!"

"That wasn't lying? There's evidence and witnesses! The homeroom teachers you've had, the other teachers, the pupils…!"

"Oh man."

"See that? This is middle school! Use your brains to pass the exams instead of just making your belly pop out!"

"Y-yes, _sensei_…"

_Well! This was fun but there's something else I gotta take care of: have fun, guys. I'll drop by to visit this afternoon… Heh, heh, heh. It's gonna be funny, oh yeah. Heh, heh, heh!_

11:55 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Hum. Nothing abnormal over here… Hmmm? Who goes there? I can hear you!"

"… Good instincts, Golden Star's Yamato Man."

"Hum. You're less than 56 meters away…"

Yamato Man was clearly over a meter and eighty tall in height and wore blue-colored _samurai_ armor over his body which had a golden-colored band around the waist which was divided by several vertical and thin black lines.

His face's skin was colored in a dull gray color: his mouth was a mere line shaped like a trapeze aiming upwards while a small cubical piece was set on his chin as well: his eyes' irises were brown in coloring.

The round shoulders had a yellow band around their half to split into upper and lower portion: three rectangle-shaped plaques of armor extended slightly below the shoulder but before the forearm: each forearm was covered in cyan armor plus a yellow ring around the wrist: the top of the palms had a small dome-shaped yellow-colored object atop them: the arm and hand "skin" was colored black.

Another three layers of armor covered each hip: the pale blue and thick lower body began beneath the torso armor: it ended below the knees from which the feet emerged a piece of armor shaped like the front half of a cylinder covered the black "skin" while the front and rear of each foot were protected by blue armor which had a yellow border: it ended around the ankle and left a small space between each piece.

The neck had a thick yellow metallic band around it which covered all of it expect the front: a _samurai_ helmet covered his head: a yellow-colored metallic piece shaped like a triangle facing forward was set on his helmet's forehead: there was another above it the shape of which was reminiscent of the Alphabet letter "V".

The chest section of the armor had a circular cavity on it with his drawing set on it.

The drawing was a black circle followed by a white space and a second black circle: a black dot was set in the middle and three small lines spread from it until the inner border aiming north, SW and SE: each line had an additional curved line cutting through them near the lower end.

"Yeah. Here I am."

Burai dropped in front of Yamato Man while having drawn his sword and looking ready for a fight.

"Hum! That signature… "Denpa - Henkan"?" Yamato Man deduced while rubbing his chin with the left hand.

"Correct. But I'm different from those idiots."

"I can feel that. You're the informer?"

"Yeah. But my only interest is Kuroban."

"We won't get in the way. Yet you surely came here with some goal or another." Yamato Man guessed next.

"True. And that's to train."

"Very well, then!"

"Hra~h!"

"Thousand Spear!"

Yamato Man quickly spun the spear on his hands to block the attacks from Burai and then quickly thrust forward using different steps and approaches which either hit the barrier or Burai who wasn't surprised by the technique.

"Flying Knuckles!"

"Hum! Hrah!"

Yamato Man spun the spear like a rotor and bounced off all incoming attacks: Burai quickly rushed in with his sword but Yamato Man blocked the attacks off by placing his spear in angles designed to have the spear itself block the blade.

"Hum." Yamato Man merely muttered.

"Hmmm…" Burai seemed to be thinking of some strategy.

"Hrah! Hah!"

"Eat these!"

Burai lifted his right fist and formed those shockwaves but Yamato Man quickly jumped into the air and then fell down by aiming his spear towards the ground: fissures opened from where the spear made contact with the ground and Burai jumped into the air too to dodge the spreading fissures from which flames leapt out: Yamato Man rushed towards Burai but Burai blocked him just in time: both landed back on the ground.

"Hum! You have skill, young man!"

"I have. I've trained for over 10 years."

"Ah! Admirable. Let me ask this: your tribe has a long-lasting feud with Kuroban's tribe?"

"Right on the mark. We came up with a large-scale weapon. But they stole its power and split it into the three artifacts. Now Kuroban has gained control of it… But I'll eventually recover it. If not, I'll destroy it. But that's only between that man and me." He summed up.

"I thought as much: your tribe's pride and honor are at stake." Yamato Man summarized.

"Yeah. Correct."

"And your human name happens to be "Solo"?"

"How did you know that?"

"Gray Thunderbolt let it out when grumbling one day."

"Hmpf… Well. That's true, too. Let's continue."

"Gladly! Hrah!"

"Not bad. My turn. Hah!"

Both began to clash again and block each other's attacks while landing hits on either of them but they were unfazed by them: something began to shine in the sky and they stopped to spot Slur who had silently come to the spot.

"Slur – dono." Yamato Man greeted.

"Slur. So we meet again." Burai merely muttered.

"I do not intend to get in the way. I am just looking on." She dully replied while shrugging.

"Let's end this." Burai told Yamato Man.

"Fine!"

Both began to clash and fight again and eventually got their blades to aim for each other's neck reaching a stalemate: they stepped away and Burai merely nodded in approval.

"Good enough. I see that you didn't hold back and I didn't either but between swordsmen… It was to be expected."

"Obviously." Yamato Man replied.

"I'm off: you guys take care of Kuroban's tower plot. This weekend I'll settle the score with the guy."

"Go on ahead: walk your road."

"Walk my road, huh. Fine. Later."

He jumped away and Slur formed an amused smile while Yamato Man merely examined his spear which had gotten some cuts and scratches into it but he didn't seem to think they were important.

"I shall keep on training for another while."

"That is good. Come back anytime."

"Yes, Slur – dono!"

"Burai… Intriguing man, truly…" She amusedly muttered.

13:49 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Have you seen Gray, Kisei?"

"Ah! Prince! Eh… No, sir. I do not know where he went to, sir."

"He's placed his PET in "silent" mode and not answering my calls."

"… Oh! I remember. He went to Kyoto to speak with someone."

"Speak with someone? Styx isn't in Kyoto."

"I know, sir, but he wanted to talk with someone who could have information on an incident 13 months ago…"

"Well. Once he comes back tell me."

"Yes, sir! It shall be done."

"Good."

Kuroban stepped into the living room to find Kisei going over some footage of a battle with Viruses which he paused to stood up and salute: Kuroban looked slightly intrigued by Kisei's reply but he headed back to his room just as an iPhone he had began to ring.

"Dread Baron's direct line…? He wouldn't use it unless it was urgent and I'm afraid that that Dullahan fool is driving him mad again… Hello, Dread Baron. Dullahan's back at it?"

"Yes, Your Majesty! He manipulated yesterday's conversation to try to accuse Styx of conspiring with someone: the idiot thought I was sleeping but he forgot I'm an early riser! I went and threatened to tear him apart with a chainsaw, Prince, because he drove me mad!"

"No wonder. Let's lock them on their room: the door was designed to withstand their strength even. And if they try to break out then we can charge them with rebellion and I'll shut them down for two weeks so that they can't interfere with the moment of glory three days from now. This farce HAS to END." Kuroban fumed.

"Indeed!"

"DULLAHAN!"

"Y-your Majesty summoned me?"

"You moron! Are you DEAF? IDIOTIC? NIT-WITTED?"

"N-no, sir."

"You're not proving it, by the High One! You're acting like some paranoid and mistrusting dime B-grade spy movie agent!"

"… I shall offer no excuses."

"If you set to accuse Styx of something else then you'll be witness to how terrible my anger can be!" He hissed in a venomous voice.

"R-roger, sir."

"This is your punishment: you CAN'T LEAVE YOUR ROOM! And you CAN'T TRY TO SPY ON STYX! If you try to be smart… I'LL COME THERE MYSELF AND SHUT YOU DOWN FOR THREE WEEKS!"

"U-understood, sir."

"LAST CHANCE YOU MORON!"

"A-as you desire, sir."

"LAST CHANCE, DID YOU HEAR ME, YOU FOOLISH IGNORANT PLEBEIAN COME FROM BARBARIC LANDS?" He suddenly switched to a heavy foreign accent.

"Y-yes, Your Majesty!" He sounded scared by now.

"HMPF!"

"Get out of his hearing. Now." Dread Baron ordered.

Hurried heavy footsteps followed by the shutting of a door rang out in the background and both men sighed.

"Styx. You there?"

"Command me, my lord."

"Be ready for tonight's sorties. Your mission will end on Friday evening and this time there'll be no interlopers."

"Roger, my lord."

"By the way… Do you guess why Gray went to Kyoto?"

"No, my lord. It's been about 15 days since we last met, my lord." Styx calmly admitted.

"Fine. He'll tell me when he comes back anyway."

"Roger."

"You have my permission, Dread Baron, to hit them with a hammer or whatever you have to show them that this is but a preview of my anger when they insult my intelligence."

"As you desire, my lord."

"Good. Over and out."

"Roger."

Kuroban finished the call and sighed as he sat down on the throne and leant backwards: he clasped his forehead.

"Damn it. Things were simpler in my land. We didn't have to deal with paranoid imbeciles who want to play smart. Dullahan! I bothered to rebuild you from almost scratch, grant you this body and a half-a-year-long mission… And this is how you repay me? By bringing up the past and trying to blame Styx for some conspiracy you came up with? THE PAST IS DAMNED DEAD!" He roared.

He suddenly seemed to be seized by something as he looked around and rushed out into the balcony: he looked outside but saw nothing odd save for some guards patrolling the perimeter walls.

"… My nerves…? Or was that lapdog snooping around here…? But I know they won't assassinate me because that'd be against their honor so I'll eventually face them… They'll regret challenging me! My true power is terrific and that man barely survived it… Get ready, Burai!"


	16. Chapter 16: Interrogation

**Chapter 16: Interrogation**

15:45 PM (Japan Time), Wednesday February the 19th…

"… Heh, heh, heh. Here we are."

"Oi! Eisei. The Prince was asking about you."

"I talked with him."

"So? Did you find them?"

"Kyundai, you mean? Yeah! And he talked."

"Really?"

"Really."

Eisei met up with Kisei on the living room and he had a broad cocky grin across his face: he took off his sunglasses and dropped on the armchair while drinking some water out of a canteen he carried: he then left his Link PET on the table.

"I found him on a café full of tourists. He was having a simple coffee but at the same time speculating in the stock market. Well! I pretended to be an _amateur_ investigator and began by praising him and all to get him on the mood to talk. Look."

He opened the holographic screen which displayed Eisei speaking with another man as they sat across each other in a café terrace table.

The interlocutor appealed to be on his forties and had abundant brown hair plus a moustache: his eyes' irises were brown and he wasn't fat but had some build.

He wore a pale brown suit over a reddish shirt combined with pants of the same color, a green tie and shoes.

"… So! Kyundai – sama. Will you tell this little idiot what highly magnificent trick you pulled 13 months ago to fool those nit-wit cops and get away with the fortune?" Eisei began.

"Oho, oho! So! You think there's a trick to it, eh?"

"Of course, Kyundai – sama."

"Mwah, hah, hah! Good! I'll tell you, brat. It was something very clever on my part and all would've been rounded up were it not for some interference but, well…"

"Let's start at the dining room."

"Oh yes! The dining room. Well! I was waiting for the waiter to bring up old Wily's name and send the Net Police trio away to the rooms: Konda feigned sea-sickness but was really afraid that the man could be on board yet he headed for his rooms because he thought Wily wasn't that stupid to be caught like that on the rooms… I'd left a note half-inserted below the door's slit calling him to the engine room using Wholy Jisep's name and signature…" He whispered.

"O~h! What cleverness!"

"Mwah, hah, hah! Ain't it? But that's just the prologue! I placed a bullet on his fat brains and then dragged the guy to the stern where I placed him arms up on the box and then secured it until the Net Police old man called it quits and Koyota headed for the restrooms. I intercepted him and knocked him out to then steal his sweater and watch: I tied the guy to the emergency use rope stair which I placed on the bow and left him there while I changed Konda's clothes. I then placed the gasoline can there with a lit cigarette suspended over the can by a string. I prepared the knife and bank note in the upper deck. The flag's burning was achieved thanks to the use of gasoline to soak it and a cigarette which would eventually burn until it set the flag on fire. All was ready. I returned to the bar and continued pretending." He laughed.

"So when the first "shot" rang out you all rushed upstairs and you played the scared outta the guts knowing the can would blow up any second now, right? And you deliberately walked on forward and turned around so that everyone could see you: the can goes KABOOM and Kyundai – sama has an unbreakable alibi!" Eisei grinned.

"Mwah, hah, hah! Right on the mark, brat! But what followed next was something far smarter!"

"Oho. Please go on, Kyundai – sama!"

"Well! I began to act the imbecile and shook off the cop by saying they couldn't arrest me there: I pretended to go to the restroom but I slipped out and headed to the stern where I prepared four cigarettes along with firecrackers lightly tapped with cello-tape in the reverse side of the handrails… I returned to the bar. When they went off I rushed to the bow without being seen and there I pulled up Koyota and blew his brains out. I set another two cigarettes with firecrackers. And now… I was _supposed_ to shoot my arm after clogging the blood flow with a tennis ball under my shoulder… And after having shot a bullet into the dining room beforehand, then I would had to wait for the first firecracker to go off: I would've fallen off the chair, rolled, and let go of the tennis ball. The second firecracker would account for the bullet in the wall. And when the cop would've rushed out he'd find the dead Koyota: everyone would think of suicide and case closed!"

"But… That wasn't what happened." Eisei argued.

"I know! That woman and that other man had approached me before the trip began and told me they wanted to change one spot and that's the critical part of feigning being shot."

"Wait a min… What did you do after you got rid of Koyota and prepared the setup?"

"I left the gun on Koyota's right hand and returned to the bar to get ready to play my "confession" which was to win time for the first bow firecracker to go off… I thought that the man or the woman wanted by some reason to step in my place but I quickly discarded them when I saw where they were standing. One of the brats, though, picked the seat I'd planned and then I saw that he was the one who took profit of my setup to remove all suspicion on me."

"So you mean to say that the guy shot his arm in purpose and played along your script, Kyundai – sama?"

"Yeah! There's no doubt about it. But I've never understood why he'd do that if I was a member of the WWW's 5th column."

"True. Why, indeed…"

"That's all I know. Wily was never on the ship to begin with: it was a hologram I came up with and when no – one was looking! I came out thus having created the illusion."

"Alright, Kyundai – sama. I'll tell my fellow conspirer but this tale is a secret between us three. Did the man or the woman ever say who they were?"

"No. Never. And I still dunno how they knew of my plans."

"Did you write them down?"

"In my computer."

"Then they hacked into it: they found out who you were. And something tells me those two were Golden Star."

"Golden Star! You mean those guys who have set up that "System" and are feeding info to the cops, the FBI and all those guys out there?"

"The same ones, Kyundai – sama, the same ones. Did you ever learn their names?"

"Well. They were on the passenger list. Kanou Shade, 26, and Nazonazo Mary, 33. Both were apparently unrelated to each other but that was the illusion they formed."

"Thanks a lot, Kyundai – sama. But, hey… At least you could laugh at the cops behind their backs, eh?"

"Oh yeah! I sure did and I still do." He laughed.

"Good! See ya…"

"Mwah, hah, hah! I'm a - GENIUS!"

"… And that's it." Eisei told Kisei as he stopped the recording.

"So Hikari Netto did that on purpose?"

"So it'd seem."

"What did Hikari Netto do in purpose?" Kuroban suddenly came into the room.

"P-Prince!"

"How much did you hear?"

"Pretty much. I got picked." He admitted with a smug smile.

"Well. He shot himself in the arm."

"And he actually helped the enemy?"

"Yeah. Which is weird."

"Really weird. Was something wrong with his mind or what?"

"Hum. Now that you mention it… I fished something out of the Net Police's computers… A file of August, 2008."

"What happened there?" Kuroban asked.

"Five bullies dressed up as cops who'd heard a real cop's ramblings ambushed Hikari and beat him for no reason. They were just using that stupid cop's fears and selfish attitude."

"Fears of what?"

"Of Hikari's and Rock Man's powers."

"What? But they saved the world with them."

"Apparently some guys were afraid of those and got the selfish idea that they were dangerous and they were gonna destroy the world instead if they weren't stopped. Oda wouldn't hear of it. And he was proven right, anyway. They should've worried more about Forte and the others than about their own allies. And Hikari was not doing it for himself but for the sake of others to begin with. But those guys would get obsessed with their fears. One of them rambled aloud and those bullies got the "bright" idea to use that as pretext to beat him."

"Beat the hero who saved the WORLD?" Kuroban roared: he was obviously furious with the concept.

"Luckily they picked the wrong place: the corridor where Oda's office is located at… Oda came out and shot into the air with his service revolver to scare them off but they seized them and locked them. Hikari was hospitalized for a week but when he came out he was broken man: gone was his cherry and cocky attitude and instead came a man bored with life which would never smile or laugh or nothing would surprise him."

"By all the… He saved the world in exchange for nothing and instead of thanking him for his courage and such they almost killed him? Those foolish barbarians! We'd have their necks cut!"

"No wonder!" Kisei was pale.

"And it'd seem he's more or less recovered with time and his interactions with Kage Miquel during that year. But I'm afraid the guy's been scarred for life… Maybe participating in that complot aboard the ship was a way of trying to kiss farewell to that scarred man and try to rise again and prove to be a new man…"

"A trial… To prove you're worthy… I had to go through some but they weren't _that_ dramatic: it was more like proving your intelligence and physical qualities." Kuroban muttered.

"Would you allow me to do something, _aibou_?"

"What?"

"It's like this…"

He stood up and whispered something: Kuroban seemed to be thinking about it and finally nodded in approval.

"Alright. You can. But no extortion or blackmail. Simply say you've drawn a theory of why they did that and then get back. Don't force them or intimidate them either: if you see they won't answer pull out and forget about it, Gray." Kuroban settled.

"Thanks, _aibou_. I'll try to be back before dusk." Eisei smiled.

Kuroban merely nodded and came out while grumbling something while Eisei chuckled under his breath…

18:04 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Well! Home sweet home. Mama's gone out to Meiru's house so we can relax for a while. After all we're done with the exams."

"Yeah. I'll check the mail."

Netto and Saito got back to their bedroom and Netto dropped on his bed (leftmost of the two) while stretching: Saito sat down on the chair in front of the computer and booted it up while humming a tune: he then distractedly glanced around the room and he suddenly set his gaze on the closet's door which was open by a very small fraction: the computer pinged and Saito quickly looked at his inbox: he read something and he seemed to figure something out: he took out a key from his right pocket and unlocked a drawer from which he picked something wrapped in silver paper: he glanced at Netto.

"By the way! Snake is fond of sneaking, right?"

"Huh? Solid Snake or Naked Snake?"

"Solid."

"Well. Yeah. It's his specialty."

"And he's good at spotting guards, eh?"

"Well… Yeah… But why…?"

Saito suddenly pulled the closet's door open and tore off the silver paper to reveal a Beretta M92F which he aimed at Eisei, who'd been hiding behind some coats and shirts: Netto gasped and stood up in a flash while Saito removed the safety to then cock the gun: Eisei merely grinned and lifted his hands.

"Yo."

"You're… Eisei Aaron! Enzan told me about you!" Netto exclaimed while pointing his right hand's index finger at him.

"Ijuuin, the excellent hound, did? Heh! I suspected as much, Mr. Fan-of-rituals."

"Fan of rituals? Whaddya mean?"

"13 months ago? _SS Scheherazade Symphony_?"

"What!"

"I talked with Kyundai."

"I thought he was still in prison!"

"Nope! He was let out 4 months ago, Holmes!"

"And he talked about that!" Netto grumbled.

"Yeah. Was that your own idea of a ritual?"

"Not like you'd understand."

"I know all of the background including "the incident"…"

"What! You've hacked Superintendent Oda?"

"And so did that interloper."

"Which interloper?" Netto frowned.

"What… Kage didn't tell ya, Hikari Jr.?"

"No. I've been busy enough."

"Counting how many times Ooyama has lied?" He directed a smug smile at them.

"You spied on us this morning then?" Saito grumbled.

"Oh yes. CCTV cameras are ideal for that." He laughed.

"And why did you come?" Netto demanded.

"I wanted to figure out if my theory was correct: Golden Star approached you and paved you the way to become a new man by shooting your arm with the gun." Eisei simply replied.

"Well. That's right, yeah."

"And Kage pulled some favors?"

"Sure." Netto grudgingly admitted.

"Ah! I see! I see. Some little affair, then?" He giggled.

"Oi! Don't poke your nose in my private life! I couldn't care less for that tower thing you're building in Densan City or those fancy thefts of that "Charon" guy…"

"By the way! We got inspired."

"Inspired… Someone inspired Charon's behavior?"

"The Yellow M."

"The Yellow M?"

"Egdar P. Jacobs: The Adventures of Blake & Mortimer, Number 3, The Yellow M… The 1950s London is in chaos: a mysterious thief which has been nicknamed "The Yellow M" given how he uses yellow chalk to write a symbol similar to the Alphabet "M" character announces through the media that he'll strike somewhere in London in the upcoming 24 hours, fulfills his warning and always makes sure to leave his mark in a very visible spot… All victims who've made contact with the thief suffer some kind of shock and loss of recent memory… No bullets seem to affect him and he can drive across the fog and make his way through blackened buildings without trouble… He even stole the Imperial King Land Crown from the "City" of London!" He described.

"In short: "Charon" is an attempt to recreate that "Yellow M" in the real world, you mean to say." Saito was unimpressed.

"Bravo, Watson."

"You know what? You're so eager to meet Golden Star that we'll call upon them and they'll get some answers outta you. Take a nap and by the time you woke up you'll be there." Saito suddenly formed a smug smile as he lifted the gun.

"W-what?"

"Say "night"...!"

PLOP!

"U… Ugh…"

THUD!

"… * snores *… U~h…"

"Heh, heh, heh."

"Netto. Ring Oriol."

"Right away, Skipper!"

Netto picked the PET while Saito kept on aiming the gun at the collapsed and snoring Eisei.

"Netto – kun? What's up?"

"Eisei. We got him."

"What! Where? When?"

"Right now, in our bedroom."

"The fiend!" Kuroshiro cursed.

"Calm down! He was curious about the ship thing."

"I know. We found out he'd visited Kyundai. But I wasn't expecting him to make such a bold move."

"Well! I'd rather say this: we'll disguise and then warp this guy aboard _Purgatory_. We'll question him a bit and then let him loose in the park so that he makes his way back to his turf." Netto told him.

"Alright. I'll prepare my disguise too. But since the rooms are sound-proof and we'll warp the guy directly into the room no-one will notice anything and we can code the "DC" signature." Kuroshiro grinned.

"Heh, heh, heh. The hunter becomes the hunted."

"And their trap backfires on them." Saito added.

"Welcome to the party, my dear."

18:47 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Oi. Wake up."

"Welcome to the party, my dear."

"Grah… My head's spinning…! Hikari Saito…! You rascal…!"

"Got a trouble with Miquel – kun's friend?"

"Solve it with me."

"What! Kage! Andy! And those other two…! They gotta be Legato and _Noir_! You're not gonna tell me this is _Purgatory_!"

"Yessir. Welcome onboard, our fellow conspirer."

Kage, Andy, _Noir_ and Legato were forming a circle around a chair into which Eisei had been tied within _Noir_'s own bedroom: he'd been blindfolded too and he was now looking around.

"So, Mr. Cyborg. Care to say why you're a cyborg?"

"W-whaddya talking about?"

"No use denying it, my fellow. That old man who'd dragged me into Nebula was the inventor of these: I could tell it given how the Wi-Fi picked the ID tag of your nanomachines." _Noir_ told him.

"Shit."

"So! You're a human consciousness living in this "cyborg body" 90% of which is a normal human's body but the brain has been turned into a cybernetic imitation and you have some implants in the CNS to decode its signals plus nanomachines flowing across your blood. Let me guess: you were a split personality of someone and Kuroban saw profit in splitting you from your host and then granting you this body."

"… Alright. Yeah. My host was a weeping idiot and totally _naïve_ who was abandoned by his parents in some garbage dump and then sent to an orphanage yet never adopted. I was "born" as a result of him knowing the truth of why he was an orphan: and I began to control the guy."

"We read a file of that which our informer provided."

"You mean that Burai smug-faced jerk!"

"Yesssir. He was amused by the duel with Yamato Man and thus decided to return the favor we'd done him for letting him have a noble battle by digging your file out of the Seraph HQ."

"That sneaking mouse…!" He hissed next.

"Tut, tut. Anyway! Seraph Tower is gonna rise on Saturday morning and you guys will be there to make a more dramatic show, eh?"

"Yeah! If you know so much then why question me?"

"It's amusing." Legato replied.

"Che!"

"Wanna go to Lower Norwood and hide in Oldacre's house?"

"Oi! Isn't that some Holmes story?"

"Yessir. The "Norwood Builder" included in "The Return of Sherlock Holmes"…" Kage told him.

"Kage Miquel! You arranged for Hikari to have his own ritual to become a new man, didn't you! Kanou Shade surely is President Hades and Nazonazo Mary was that Slur gal, right!"

"Bravo." Andy sarcastically clapped.

"Guys? I'm back from scouting. Hey! Isn't that Eisei Aaron of the "Seraphs"? You caught him?" A voice rang out.

"Yeah, Zero. We were asking some questions. But tell us anyway."

"Good. I dropped by "Seraph Tower", Eisei."

"Stealth camo, huh." He grumbled.

"Correct."

"And the rent-a-cops didn't see ya."

"Nor like they could."

"Che."

"Well! To begin with: the building protecting the entrance to the tunnel is full of rent-a-cop dudes and there's an elevator which leads to the beginning of the tunnel: an automated cargo train is placed there. Some robots load it with the stuff and it then departs for a ride that lasts about half an hour. There's a control post at the end of it and in front of a lock gate which is obviously locked. The control post has a direct elevator to the surface which ends up in one abandoned locale 700 meters west of Densan Tower. There are more rent-a-cop dudes in there who search the train. If all's O.K. then the lock gate is opened and the train proceeds to its final destination… Seraph Tower." Zero detailed over the open laptop in the table.

"Man. Why don't you sign in as radio broadcaster?" Eisei sarcastically told him.

"Well. Why not." Zero played along.

"Clever guy…!"

"Ahem, ahem. The tower looks pretty similar to that in your Twilight's schematics but the "Seraphs" added one or two touches and really made a funny external decoration." Zero reported.

"What are they working on at this stage? I assume that the building itself is fully built and the only thing left is to finish the interiors and the circuitry, right?"

"Sure thing, _Danna_. They added a central "Dimensional Generator" as well apart from the "Dimensional Converters"…"

"Did you see anything else odd in the interior?"

"They made redundant Energy Cores since there are three of them while Twilight suggested that one would be enough. That's all I found and then I headed back here while doing the Kessel Run by the way. Eisei! Did you ever figure out what Solo meant in _Episode IV_?"

"No!"

"The Kessel Run is a smuggling route which is close to the "Maw", a cluster of black-holes… Navigating it has to be done in real-space given how the forces from the black-holes would destroy any ship attempting to travel through Hyperspace… The normal route is 18 parsecs long but Han Solo came up with some skilled maneuvering which allowed him to cut it in 12 parsecs despite being weighted down by the spice cargo."

"Hmpf!"

"Playing the offended diplomat, eh?"

"Say! _Noir_! Did you tell them that Twilight envisioned "Cross Fusion" and designed a tool for that which he intended to test in you?" Eisei suddenly turned cocky.

"What!" Kage and Andy gasped.

"Damn. Not that."

"… "Dark Synchro Chip"…" Eisei whispered.

"What!"

"Heh, heh, heh. I know you confiscated some stuff named "Dark Chips" which grant a Navi power in exchange for their "souls" and which eventually corrode their data and delete them… Well! Fusing one of those with the "Synchro Chip" would force the Navi to unwillingly merge with the Operator which would suffer the effects of the "Dark Chip" and become rampaging. The "Cross Fusion" would have to be undone by forcefully breaking their chest emblem… But the sequels left in both of them would be hard to heal too…" He chuckled.

"That's why I had to escape that old man! I'm free! The old man died along with Regal when Forte blew the submarine up! I wouldn't allow the old man to turn me into a killer, fuck them!"

"Whoa! Boss! Calm down!" Kage gasped.

"_Noir_ – sama, sir!"

"… Che…! This guy tricked me…!"

"And they could be passed off as normal "Synchro Chips" too."

"Shit." Kage growled.

"Which means you intend to use them?"

"Oh, no. _Aibou_ wouldn't hear of it: he wants us to fight square and fair and he's been pressuring us on that. But if you tried using the nail on them you'd be able to make the cover jump off. And if you broke the nail then it was the genuine safe stuff." He laughed.

"Hmpf."

"Alright. That's all we need to know insofar. Say night again and I'm sure that Kuroban will show you how silly you've been."

"Oi! Wait! Not so…!"

PLOP!

"…fast…! Huh… * snores *…"

"Heh! The Sleeping Guy." Legato joked.

"Well! Let's dump him on the park and focus on deciding who will go fight each of them on Saturday." _Noir_ settled.

Kage freed the sleeping Eisei from the chair as a "DC" was brought up and Eisei was warped out of the room: both guys sighed in relief and Kage took out his sunglasses which he pocketed as he suddenly aimed his fingers at the air while forming the shape of guns.

"Ocelot says you're not cool enough. Go learn what it means to be cool from Cool Man." He joked.

"Major Ocelot, eh?" _Noir_ giggled.

"Clever guy!" Legato chuckled next.

"So! Stay tuned for our next chapter, guys!" Andy exclaimed.

"Some fresh developments are waiting for us, I daresay!"


	17. Chapter 17: Tribes' quarrel

**Chapter 17: Tribes' quarrel**

08:38 AM (Japan Time), Thursday February the 20th…

"… Hmmm… Pizza… I want it… hand it over…"

"Enzan… kun… It's morning."

"Marguerite pizza… It's my favorite… you lousy delivery dude… you're fired…"

"The pizza has arrived!"

"Ah! Hand it over!"

Enzan jumped off the bed and ran towards the apartment's door: he looked outside through the peep hole but there was no one so he blinked and looked puzzled.

"Huh? I dreamed it up?"

"I am sorry, Enzan… kun… I did it to wake you up." Blues timidly admitted as he walked up to him.

"Ah. What gave you the idea, anyway?"

"You were muttering things about wanting pizza so I decided to say something linked to your desire."

"Can't blame you… What time is it?"

"8:42 AM."

"I'll have a shower and I forbid you from trying to peep in."

"I'd never do such a thing, Enzan… kun…"

"Better to prevent than to heal."

"Enzan… kun… Sure can have weird moods from time to time. Maybe it means that he's changing for good." Blues commented aloud.

Enzan's PET suddenly rang, so Blues picked it up: he spotted the name "_Noir_" on the screen and patched it through.

"Hello… Oh. It's you, Blues. Enzan is sleeping?" Kuroshiro cheerily asked of him.

"He's on the bathroom. Have you found something?"

"We had a nice little talk with Eisei Aaron yesterday. He let out several things." Kuroshiro grinned.

"What? How did you get to him?"

"On the contrary: _he_ tried to get to _us_ but he failed."

"What's up?"

Enzan had walked out of the bathroom with a towel around the waist.

"Hullo, Enzan. I was just telling Blues that we managed to get some info out of Mr. Satellite yesterday."

"What? Tell us more!"

"I'm on it. He was trying to unravel the whole affair about the ship some time ago: he snuck into you-know-whose house and hid in the closet, intending to eavesdrop on them. Fortunately enough… Big Bro realized there was someone else and kept him at bay with Lil Bro's tranquilizer weapon. He put him to sleep and they brought him aboard _Home_. He obviously fell for the idea that Lil Bro and Cool Guy were two separate persons."

"Why is he speaking like that?" Blues wondered.

"Ah! My end of the line isn't protected, true. I get it, though." Enzan realized.

"Yeah. That's why. We've discovered something: Kuroban was able to design one "CB" and use it for Mr. Satellite. He was the antithesis of some guy abandoned at birth and raised in an orphanage." He whispered in a conspiracy tone.

"Good. And he knew of other devices the old man came up with too: he tried to scare us with them but in the end we dumped him on the park to make his way back to the turf."

"About the building…"

"Yeah. Origin dropped by: it was just as you'd predicted."

"One moment… Alright. I've encoded my end: no – one can intercept content anymore. We can speak clearly."

"The tower will be activated Saturday morning at around 10:00 AM and we'll be in position to quickly appear there. We're finishing the selection of the guys who'll go fight them. I think they plan on broadcasting this on live too: some rumors have been heard by Suzuki – san on her work-place about something BIG happening on Saturday and apparently staged by the "forces" behind "Dullahan" and "Charon"… Speaking of which! "Charon" is an imitator of an identical thief in some Belgian comic."

"Man. They suck at innovating."

"Sure thing!" Kuroshiro grinned.

"They end up being copycats."

"Well! Let's hope they don't unleash a herd of Pokémon around the town either." He warned.

"Speaking of which, I thought that a new volume of the _Pocket Monsters Special_ _manga_ was coming out soon?"

"What? Oh. Volume 38? Yeah, in 8 days' time."

"Are those three still broadcasting?"

"Why wouldn't they? They're good for everyone's morale."

"Heh, heh! Well. If that's all the important stuff then I'm gonna get dressed already."

"Sure. Catch some fan-boys."

"Oh come on." Blues grumbled.

"The Fan-boy Club of Blues' Dread!"

"Shut up already!"

09:09 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Phew! I started earlier on tonight's missions and I've completed 75 of them in 15 days. Heh, heh, heh. Man! I feel energy-filled and I can't wait for Saturday morning! It'll be exciting!"

Styx was looking at his upper body on his bathroom's mirror while looking like he'd just come out of the shower given the drops of water left on his body and the humidity which was starting to dissipate: he only had a white towel around his waist.

"I'm the king of muscles! Hah! Not bad."

He then headed for the stool in which he'd left his boxers and socks which he put on: he looked at his body again and then transited into his room to put on the jeans and the fingerless gloves: he then put on a plain black shirt and a light zipper before unlocking his room and coming out into the corridor: Dullahan's door had been sealed with some kind of energy field akin to a "Dimensional Area" as if to ensure he'd be unable to come out of it: he grinned and then calmly headed for what looked like a small dining room where Dread Baron was reading the newspapers: the rests of his breakfast could be seen on his dish.

"Good morning, Baron – sama." He saluted.

"Ah. Styx. You feel refreshed?"

"Completely. Resting during the afternoon to ready for the night shift and then having another small rest feels well enough… By the way, sir, is that energy field a "DA", sir?"

"A "Dimensional Area", you mean? Correct. The Prince came here yesterday while you were in the midst of your missions and actually made a cut to Dullahan's armor as if to prove to him he was fed up and that was a warning: he then came up with the "DA" because it's impossible to be broken by mere force." He calmly replied.

"That is good, my lord."

"Sure. Now we'll get rid of his idiocies."

"The "Seraph Tower" is being finished?"

"It _is_ finished. The ignition and stabilization simulations are being run and they'll be completed by Saturday at about 3 AM."

"Did Golden Star find it?"

"They did: Zero was spotted by the IR cameras."

"Zero… The Net Navi in charge of the super-computer…"

"The same one… But have some breakfast."

"Thank you, my lord."

Styx prepared a pair of bread slices which he toasted and added some strawberry jam to it while also serving some water in a glass: he quietly ate them while Dread Baron distractedly read the newspapers: he suddenly seemed to find something which got his attention.

"… Who'd said it?" He muttered.

"Is something the matter?"

"There's a letter sent by someone signing as "K. O." in which it says that "Charon" is based on "The Yellow M", a character from a Belgian comic published in… 1956!"

"Well. No wonder no-one made the connection until now, sir. Maybe there's been a re-edition and someone began to see how similar I looked to that character…"

"It's not just "similar"… The list of details makes it clear enough that your acts and attire are a complete copy!"

"Maybe the Prince was trying to taunt everyone to see who'd spot the connection, sir?"

"Surely." He guessed.

"Ping, pang, peng, pung, pong."

"What was that?" Dread Baron asked.

"Huh… Someone's phone?"

"But the walls are too thick for sounds of the outside to penetrate inside and the door is properly locked."

"Speaking of the door… Lately it takes about 0.8 seconds more to close so maybe it's missing grease and is open by a very small margin? Shall I go and check?" Styx offered.

"Do it."

Styx finished the water and headed towards the wall which was the camouflaged door: he noticed a small air current and he took out a green and red Link PET which he booted up to look at CCTV footage of the parking: it was empty for the time being.

"Open."

The door quickly slid open and Styx checked the rails in a calm and detailed manner: he spotted a small pebble which had gotten half-stuck into the rail and largely broken by the friction of the wall and its weight but the remains of which had built up close to the end of the rail thus stopping the door from properly closing.

"Ah. It's just these… Let's get them outta here."

"Hunting for pebbles, my fellow conspirer?"

"HUH! A-ah! Eisei – dono! Where did you…?"

"Behind the _Danna_'s car, see…"

Eisei suddenly loomed over him, momentarily startling him while he had a broad grin on his face.

"Oh! Young EIsei… Welcome. The Prince has issued new orders?" Dread Baron asked as he walked over to the spot.

"Not really. I just dropped by to have a chat with Styx."

"Go on ahead."

"Thanks, _Danna_. By the way! Is Dull Man there?"

"Dull Man? Dullahan? Well. Yes. The Prince set that "DA" wall up to make sure he won't come out: the walls are armored and not even his robot body can rip them now that he's reduced all strength to just 10%. He got it coming." Dread Baron sighed.

Styx removed the pebbles and closed the door: Eisei signaled for his room and both went inside: he sat on the bed's edge while Styx picked the chair and leant his hands and forearms atop the legs.

"So! Styx."

"Yes, Eisei – dono?"

"Oh come on. I'm not here on _aibou_'s errand. I just want to have a guy on guy chat like we were classmates."

"Eh, but…"

"Be the man you are!"

"… Alright. I won't get scolded for this?"

"Why should ya? I've come on my own account and _aibou_ is busy with the last touches to "Seraph Tower"…"

"… But you're a superior and the rank…"

"Screw rank! This ain't the frickin' military!"

"S-sorry."

"Man. I thought you'd be more of a though guy."

"I used to be when I loitered around the streets and had to tag with Dullahan as Net Navi but… Six months closed in a reformatory for pick-pocketing and break-in changed me." He sighed and closed his eyes as he leant the chair backwards.

"Alright. Yesterday something happened?"

"Oh yeah? And what was that?"

"I met the Hikari twins."

"Hikari twins!" He gasped.

"Yeah. I snuck into their closet, see."

"Why?" He eagerly asked.

"To eavesdrop."

"Did you figure anything?" He looked eager again.

"They're armed."

"Armed!"

"A Beretta M92F courtesy of Kage." He shrugged.

"Kage, huh."

"I had a taste of it."

"Who shot?"

"Hikari Sr."

"Hikari Saito, then."

"Bravo."

"Are you laughing at me?" Styx was not amused.

"My bad. It just came up."

"Fine."

"So? What happened next?"

"I was interrogated aboard _Purgatory_ by four conspirers." He summed up with a sigh.

"Kage, Andy, Legato and _Noir_?"

"The same ones! I was blindfolded and tied to a chair: they figured out one or two things thanks to the informer and Zero reported about his express visit to the construction site."

"Baron – sama told me they'd seen him there, yeah."

"They then had me have a taste of it again and next thing I knew I was on the park with Kisei having come to fetch me. But I did spot the informer looking at me with a face that said "eat that, fucker" and I almost went and slaughtered the guy."

"What informer?"

"Oh? You hadn't heard? A guy from Thailand named Solo."

"As if in Han Solo?"

"Those four guys joked with that of the Kessel Run."

"Oh. I'd read about it."

"Next time hire a Deoxys." Eisei improvised what seemingly was some sarcastic answer.

"Sorry?"

"Don't mind it. I was rambling. Hire the Galactic Gang to travel across the Universe 'cause they're the ones creating a new one to begin with. The smug guys." He grumbled.

"Guess so, yeah."

"Anyway! Did you figure out Ijuuin's address?"

"Yeah. I did."

"Good."

"Why'd you ask? Wanna drop by?"

"Maybe so, my fellow conspirer. I'll ring up the P Brothers."

"The P Brothers? Some thugs?" Styx frowned.

"Never mind. It's a joke."

"Do you think there'll be a _Pocket Monsters Gray_?" Styx asked.

"Dunno. It seems too obvious but it's too early to know: the games have just been out for half a year. _Diamond and Pearl_ came out in 2006."

"But _Platinum_ didn't come out until 2008. Roughly two years later, so we've got this precedent."

"So I think we'll have to wait for 2012 before definite about the enhanced remake is disclosed." Eisei shrugged.

"There'll be other stuff to expect anyway. We had _Halo Reach_ in September of the last year, too. Maybe there'll be another prequel game by this year but I'd expect them to do something cool: I mean, it's be the 10th anniversary of 1st game's publication."

"Sure thing… By the way! Any luck?"

"Luck? In what? Oh? That front? Well. Not. I tried to look around but I had to shake off like 9 idiots who tried to seize me with the device. It was a bad idea to set a foot there. Next time I'll try posing as a guy for hire and maybe I can trick that Laika guy even." He admitted.

"I wouldn't trust Laika: he'd turn you into his new play-thing and toss Ijuuin like a broken iPod touch." Eisei warned.

"Guess so…"

"The storm will rumble and shake?"

"Huh? Dunno."

"Cloud Man will bring up a storm?"

"Cloud Man…? Ah. He worked for Nebula, yeah. But Rock Man and Tomahawk Man beat the guy, from what I heard."

"Would you believe that they give you a mantrap in a package saying it's a weapon to fend off an alien?" Eisei suddenly asked.

"No way…" Styx was skeptical.

"Heh, heh, heh. _Ibañez_ is a genius and Meijin's coffee will turn spicy with a vengeance."

"Please… That's impossible." He groaned in annoyance.

"I wanna see you getting annoyed! Heh, heh, heh!"

10:56 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Yo~! Botanic student! Uncle Moriarty's back!"

"AH! Eisei! Man! Don't creep like that!"

"Heh, heh, heh. So?"

"So… What?"

"Gonna fire Plant Man?"

"Plant Man got fired _thrice_."

"Heh! Good catch."

"By the way… About our appearance in "Seraph Tower"…"

"Don't worry! We'll a cloak with a hood and since Denpa – Henkan can alter the skin color…"

"Gotcha."

"Kye~h!"

"What was _that_, Eisei?"

"Dunno."

Eisei had silently crept into Kisei as he read a textbook, thus startling him and then starting to joke: a bird's cry suddenly rang out, surprising both of them.

"Oi! Eisei! If that's your idea of a joke…!" Netsuhonoo cursed as he ran into the living room.

"…we didn't like it!" Kazebun finished as he stepped in too.

"At all!" Umisama looked like he'd been woken up because his shirt had been put on in a rush.

"That wasn't a joke." Kuroban icily warned as he came in while looking around in a suspicious manner.

"P-Prince!"

"Kye~h!"

"You're not gonna tell me that's some flying-type Pokémon." Eisei grimly muttered.

"I can't tell them apart by cries! There are tens of them if not over a hundred by now!" Kisei protested.

"Kye~h!"

"Oi! You! Have you seen anything weird?" Kuroban ran out into a nearby balcony and looked towards a guard.

"No, sir!"

"Where do you think the sound's coming from?"

"I would venture Elite Quarters 1st floor, sir, the floor immediately below yours, sir."

"Hum! Yeah. It sounds like it. Fine!"

He closed the balcony doors and ran off followed by the other five guys: he ran down the stairs and came out into another corridor where some men which looked like employees were looking for something across the rooms.

"Staff! Are you looking for that bird?"

"Yes, Prince! Insofar it's not in 5 of 10 rooms."

"50% chance, then… Let's try them all at the same time! Move!" He commanded.

They quickly checked the rooms until Eisei stumbled upon a store-room which was unlit yet six figures in the form of birds were glowing with reddish light: he turned on the lights to see that they had some slight armor over their chests but that their bodies seemed to be made of energy.

"Mu Denpa Bodies!" He gasped.

"Condors!" Kuroban exclaimed next.

"But where did they come from?" Netsuhonoo asked.

"The Mu Continent!" Umisama realized.

"Yeah! The interloper! He's brought these here and must be slipping into the Shrine to try to get control of Ra Mu! You guys tackle those: they should fall with just one attack! Gray! Come with me."

"Roger!"

While the other four dealt with the intruders, Kuroban and Eisei rushed upstairs and into the room with the "gateway" machine which was already running and humming.

"Denpa – Henkan! Eisei Aaron, On Air!"

Gray Thunderbolt didn't waste a second and rushed into the "gateway" along with Kuroban only to find that they exited at the beginning of a large staircase climbing towards the topmost building: they both cursed and quickly tried to "warp" but something stopped them from that.

"Shit. The guy has messed with the atmosphere."

"We gotta try something else, then! Area Steal!"

"Area Steal!"

Both transferred to the shrine's entrance but a large block of stone had fallen from the top and blocked it off: they jumped upwards nonetheless and dropped inside of the building to see Burai standing atop Ra Mu which was hovering and extending its hands towards the two of them.

"Come! Erand Soldiers!"

"Shit!"

Some soldier-like beings of a dull orange and gray color pattern formed on the area: their heads were shaped like cones the sides of which had patterns drawn into them and they had some armor over the shoulders and the chest which protected their raw energy bodies: they held shields and swords and instead of legs they had a "tail" of energy which allowed them to hover over the ground protected by an armored spear.

"The eternally repulsive servants of Mu!" Kuroban roared.

"Hmpf. Kick them out."

"Che! Elec Sword!"

"Gray! Don't face the green ones! They're elemental! Blue: water, green: grass, yellow: elec, red: fire, and non-elemental! That's why I formed this squad: to have each type counter these things!"

"Gotcha! Eat this! Tank Cannon!"

"Come! Aristeros Shield! Dexia Sword!"

A white shield which had the same runes engraved on its rim and a 3-layered set of circles with the hexagram on the very center formed in front of his left hand while a sword with a golden hilt and a pale green blade appeared in front of his right hand: he picked both of them up and began to slice and cut through the "Erand Soldiers" while at the same time blocking their sword swings or beams of energy with the shield: Ra Mu began to move on forward and then formed two gigantic drills which it shot towards both combatants: they jumped out of the way just in time and Kuroban warped to appear right atop Ra Mu: he began to clash with Burai who easily held his ground.

"You filthy lapdog! You'd rather use your proxies against me that your own miserable hide! Like that damned traitor!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." He dully replied.

"DAMNED PROXIES! DAMNED MACHINES! I'LL DESTROY EACH AND ALL OF YOU AND THIS TIME I'LL WIN!"

Burai frowned and Gray Thunderbolt looked up while being surprised by Kuroban's sudden hysterical yells: he began to fight at a faster speed and now Burai was the one having trouble keeping his terrain: all counters were absorbed by the shield.

"DAMN, DAMN AND DAMN! WAR BY PROXY! COWARDS! HERD OF COWARDS! ALL OF YOU! WARS ARE FOUGHT ARMY ON ARMY AND NOT BY PROXY! YOU COWARDS! FIGHT US LIKE MEN!"

"This guy's gone mad or what?" Burai cursed.

"HROA~H!"

Kuroban's body suddenly glowed with purple, brown, blue and green energy and seemed to build energy around it: four spheres of the same colors formed around him.

"Activate! Power Fusion! Merge the power! "Four Heavenly Kings"! And destroy ALL ENEMIES!"

The orbs fused into a larger gray and black orb which began to shoot beams of energy: one of them hit the soldiers and wiped half of them leaving nothing behind: Gray Thunderbolt quickly jumped into the air as another beam blew up the rest of the soldiers: a third one hit Burai head one and knocked him out of Ra Mu's top and into the cavity where it had been resting at: the other five ones converged on him but he quickly warped away while the beams opened a hole through the wall: Ra Mu' eyes dimmed and it slowly stopped hovering to land on the ground while Gray Thunderbolt landed next to Kuroban who'd fallen into his knees, tired but looking like he still hadn't recovered from the hysteric attack he'd had.

"I won… I won… I won… I'm alive… Yeah… Our kingdom has won this war, yeah… Father… The traitor is dead… Mu has lost… We've won… We've won the war… The traitor is dead… Mu has lost…" He muttered while sounding like he was having a breakdown.

Gray Thunderbolt stepped back just in case while Kuroban seemed to be trembling: he finally let out a long roar of agony and collapsed on the ground apparently out cold: Gray Thunderbolt tested his pulse and looked puzzled.

"Man. What's his problem? He's had a breakdown? I don't get what he was talking about. What war? And Mu as an actual territory fell into ruin millennia ago… Guess I'll have to carry him back to the HQ and hope he recovers enough for Saturday…"

_What happened to ya,_ aibou_?_


	18. Chapter 18: Temptation of the Dark

**Chapter 18: Temptation of the "Dark"**

15:15 PM (Japan Time), Thursday February the 20th…

"… Alright. I'm done with the errands…"

"Heh, heh, heh."

"We did well in waiting here."

"Hmmm? What do you want?"

"To recruit ya…"

"…like it or not…"

"…for a thrill…"

"…unending thrill!"

"What, proxies."

"What did ya say?"

THUD!

"Whack!"

"You rascal…!"

PTAF!

"Ugo~h…"

"Weaklings."

Styx had been walking down an alley when two thug-like guys showed up to try to seize him but he had no trouble in beating them by punching one's stomach and kicked another's balls: both were knocked out and he merely kept on walking while always looking around him as if to make sure no-one was looking: he reached the entrance to the garage where the hideout was at and pressed a small button on his sunglasses' frame to make them shine with a reddish light.

"… Nothing via the IR goggles, either… Fine."

He opened the door to the refuge and headed for Dread Baron's room where he was going over some documents.

"Ah. Styx. How did the walk go like?"

"Apart from two imbeciles, nothing spectacular happened."

"Two imbeciles at this hour? They're getting impatient."

"So it'd seem, sir."

"But they're not rivals for a man like you anyway."

"True, sir."

"You can go to your quarters."

"Roger, sir."

Styx entered his room and, as always, removed his shirt and sweater to expose his chest: he then sat down in front of his laptop and began to do something before a song began to ring out.

"… "_Et cogito ergo sum, et cogito ergo sum_."…"

"Heh, heh, heh. Luca Turilli's "Dreamquest" CD… "Virus"… How fitting, ain't it? Heh, heh, heh. Let's play some Biotronic over Facebook. I wanna beat my previous record."

He booted up the app and began to play while the song kept on running in the background.

"… "_Forgotten soul, angel of stone… Guardian of electric moonlight… You saw that seed raping the rain causing the neural infection… Mist of secret heavens, save my world…"_…"

"And that can be applied to computer viruses too. I like this sad and apocalyptic tone… It fits with my environment!" Styx chuckled and formed a smug smile.

"… "_They act and think caught in weird dreams, victims of viral abstraction, fading away, denying the phi, primary code of existence… Star of cosmic ocean, breath my lost soul…"_…"

"The phi number, eh? Heh, heh, heh. Of course…"

"… "_Lost in silent, grey emotion… On the endless mortal way to nowhere, empty vision, deadly sadness, just the frozen tears of falling angels… Virus!"_…"

"… Huff! I managed to beat Level 8, alright… And here's where the real challenge begins! Heh, heh, heh!"

"…"_Et cogito ergo sum… Et cogito ergo sum_…_"_…"

"… Phew! That was close…! Level 10! Mwah, hah, hah!"

"… "_Mourning of dawn, give me the strength to search for the inner reflection… There were still pure, the child feels so sure, no virus can corrupt the truth…"_…"

"Well, I'd wonder about that. But the "Dream Virus" sure was enough to ruin the whole world." He muttered.

"…"_Star of cosmic ocean… Breath my lost soul…"_…"

"Lost soul, eh? That reminds of the "Doma Arc" in the _Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters_ TV Series…"

"… "_Lost in silent, grey emotion… On the endless mortal way to nowhere, empty vision, deadly sadness, just the frozen tears of falling angels… Virus!"_…"

"And there it ends… And so ends my game! Level 12! Man! What a record: I'm an alien by now! Heh, heh, heh!"

He opened the Windows Media Player and selected another song which sounded like hard rock.

"… "_Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness… I need to calculate what creates my own madness…"_…"

"And what would that be, Mr. Papa Roach? _Getting Away With Murder_, maybe? Heh, heh, heh! Let's go play Mahjong Titans next and let's try the "Dragon" formation… Hmmm… I'm wondering if I should drop by Ijuuin's one day… I'd like to test the guy…"

"…"_And I'm addicted to your punishment. And you're the master. And I am waiting for disaster."_…"

"That sounds like S&M." Styx lifted his eyebrows.

"…"_I feel irrational. So confrontational. To tell the truth I am getting away with murder. It isn't possible to never tell the truth. But the reality is: I'm getting away with murder. Getting away… Getting away… Getting away…!"_…"

"Then maybe I'll be able to tell the truth to someone one day: I'd love to see their faces."

"…"_I drink my drink and I don't even want to. I think my thoughts when I don't even need to. I never look back 'cause I don't even want to. And I don't need to do. Because I'm getting away with murder."_…"

"Ever head of "psychoanalysis", my fellow?"

"…"_Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… With murder…!"_…"

"Man. This guy should need to have his head checked."

"…"_Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness… I need to calculate what creates my own madness… And I'm addicted to your punishment. And you're the master. And I am craving this disaster."…_"

"So! You're Disaster Man, so as to say?"

"…"_Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… With murder…!"_…"

"Oi, oi… Go have a vacation in Jawaii then!"

"…"_Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… Getting away… With murder…!"_…"

"Phew! He's listened to me, it'd seem."

PING! PUNG! PANG! PENG! PONG!

"Eisei did something to his emails so that they'll always make this weird sound when one comes into my inbox… Let's see! "Do ya know why there's a backdoor to begin with? 'Cause it's the ULTIMATE ESCAPE ROUTE, see!"… How lame." He grumbled.

PING! PUNG! PANG! PENG! PONG!

"What, another?"

"Yo! _Danna_! I applaud your extra hours."

"Gray Thunderbolt. What's up now?"

"Heh, heh, heh. I'm gonna prove my intelligence."

"Has it ever been questioned to begin with?" Styx asked.

"Who cares?"

"The Prince, maybe?"

"Don't worry! I'll find out what they hide."

"Who, Golden Star?"

"Yeah. There's an intriguing crate in their warehouse: I've disabled the alarms and I'm gonna check it out. Heh, heh, heh. Did ya get my earlier mail, by the way?" Gray Thunderbolt asked.

"Totally lame."

"Not as lame as having a squish-like alien which shoots some kind of liquid that makes you slide across the ground: it tried on a cow, it flew and landed atop it turning it into a carpet! Alien carpet! How's that for an original motto?" He laughed.

"Silly." Styx didn't find it funny either.

"One warning! Don't wax the bar's floor or M&F will have their revenge having the Prof struggling not to slide down a wood plank suspended from a building's rooftop! Nyah, hah, hah!"

15:37 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Damn it. Someone broke in… And the "Forbidden Box" was opened too…! There were nine of them inside… And they're all gone! Damn it: it had to be Gray Thunderbolt! Only that guy could create such an EMP which would knock out all systems in the warehouse!"

Legato had come into the warehouse to find that the central crate had been cracked open and the silver tray inside of it was missing whatever there'd been inside of the box.

"_Noir_ – sama! Trouble, sir!"

"What?"

"Gray Thunderbolt! He's stolen the "Dark Chips"!"

"Shit. I should've stored them elsewhere!"

"All of them, too."

"ALL OF THEM?"

"Now the problem will be locating the guy if they've gone to the depths of the Reverse Internet to test them out… But if they go rampaging then there'll be no trouble… Do we have the "Vaccine Chip" ready, sir?"

"Yeah. But we'd need someone to buy us time facing the guy until the program is loaded and ready to fire."

"Maybe _kyoudai_ would do?"

"Blues and Enzan? Well, why not… Let's go ring them up."

"Alright."

"… What do you want?" Blues asked once he picked up.

"Is Enzan over there?"

"He's having a nap. It better be important."

"Gray Thunderbolt is about to go into a rampage and could very possibly turn the Reverse Internet into a ruin."

"What! How?"

"Something named "Dark Chip"…"

"What's that?"

"An invention of the old man…"

"And how did he get them?"

"We were storing them in a crate here, on our warehouse, but he knocked out the sensors and stole the nine of them: these things will make him go mad and turn addict to them so he'll eventually consume them and lose sanity to go into a rampage: we've got a vaccine which can nullify that but we need you to fight the guy and buy us time. We'll ring Obihiro to ask for his help in tracing the guy too." Legato detailed.

"Alright. If I can show that guy how powerless he really is again then count on me… Enzan – sama, sir…"

"Hmmm… * snores *… Take uppercut… New York… The finals of middle-weight boxing… Take that… And this… And that one… I win…" Enzan's voice could be heard and it sounded like he was dreaming.

"… Come on… Eh… And the winner is…!"

"The great me, Ijuuin Enzan…"

"… Kage Miquel!"

"WHA~T? KAGE YOU RASCAL! THIS TROPHY'S MINE! MINE! MINE! AND ONLY MINE! HAND IT BACK, YOU!"

"GURLOH! Enzan – sama…! Please… compose yourself…!"

Now it was visible how Enzan had leapt to his feet and was pulling at Blues' face skin thus opening his mouth in a comical fashion: Enzan blinked and seemed to be snapping outta the dream.

"Huh… Nap time's over already?"

"There's an emergency, sir… We need to go to… the Reverse Internet and then…! Please let go of my face, sir…!"

"Heh… Heh, heh… Hah, hah, hah! That face is priceless! I'd love to make a portrait of it, really!"

"Enzan – sama, sir!" He protested.

"Sorry. What's the deal?"

"Gray Thunderbolt is about to begin rampaging and we have to stall for time so that the punk can shoot a vaccine at them." Blues summed up as he rubbed his cheeks.

"How do you know that, anyway?"

"We told him." Legato replied.

"Man! Next time tell me there's an open line."

"I apologize, sir."

"Alright! I'll wash my face."

"Hi! Obihiro – kun? See… Can you try to locate any weird power signatures in the Reverse Internet close to Internet City?" _Noir_ was asking Obihiro in the meanwhile.

"Sure." Obihiro calmly replied.

"Thanks. By the way! I've got this photo."

"… You wouldn't be thinking of…" He began to say.

"No, no! It's but a memento."

"Alright. Let's get down to work."

"Wouldn't you like to feel that again?"

"Not even if they paid me 1,000,000Z!" He protested.

"Sure, sure. Heh, heh. That rosy tone to your cheeks when you get annoyed turns me on."

"Please…!" He groaned.

"Tee, heh, heh!"

15:54 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Mwah, hah, hah, hah! I'M INVINCIBLE!"

"You lowlife! That's as far as you come!"

"Blues! Mwah, hah, hah! This time I'll beat cha to a pulp and I'll be the most powerful guy ever with the exception of _aibou_!"

Gray Thunderbolt was running like mad across the Reverse Internet and shooting purple-colored thunderbolts while also using a purple-colored Elec Sword: his eye shone with a purplish light and his color palette had been replaced by purple: he was laughing like mad and looked psychotic while Blues faced him.

"Eat this! Sword for sword!"

He began to clash with Blues' Long Sword and actually shattered it: he laughed and began to deliver a barrage of sword attacks which left cuts on Blues' body and he struggled to resist: Legato was standing in a higher platform and aiming a Mega Cannon Battle Chip towards the back of Gray Thunderbolt's body.

"2 minutes!" _Noir_ announced.

"Damn it! Tank Cannon!"

"Uack! Not enough… Eat this! Heavenly Thunderbolt!"

"Oh shit!"

Gray Thunderbolt formed the sphere but it suddenly collapsed into itself and blew up: he panted and dropped on his fours while cursing and groaning: he looked up with a glare of hatred.

"Ain't enough…! More! I need more! 8 weren't enough…! But 9 will be more than enough…! Come! Dark Chip!"

Some kind of Chip formed inches in front of his face: it had a partial purple carcass on the sides and grayish one over the base: instead of a label it had a orange-colored dome which contained some kind of black and purplish energy shape: he chuckled.

"That's a "Dark Chip"?" Blues wondered.

"Activate!"

The Chip's frame broke down into raw data and the energy contained within it suddenly expanded and grew to form a scary "face" with eyes having two triangles above and below them, a nose, and a terrific evil smile all shining in a pale purple light: the energy then jumped into Gray Thunderbolt's body and he began to charge cyan energy which gave way to purple: he suddenly gasped and the energy jumped off him to give shaped to a purple copy of Gray Thunderbolt's body: it didn't speak but quickly began to attack the original Gray Thunderbolt.

"What?" Blues gasped.

"Crap. The old man foresaw this… If you try to charge up "Dark Power" but release it prematurely then it will fly out of you and form a copy which can use any Battle Chip in your Folder at random and can impair you if you're fighting with another opponent…" _Noir_ grumbled.

"So what should we do?"

"Nothing's changed: Gray has but released about 33% of all "Dark Power" he's built up and there's enough left for another two attempts at loading up his attacks: in about 50 seconds we'll have finished loading and kill two birds with one stone." He replied.

"Alright… So do we tackle Gray or the thing?"

"Ignore the thing: tackle Gray and stop him from trying to do that again or else we'll be in deep shit."

"Roger. Oi! You! Fight!"

"You rascal! I'll have you be turned into a zapped corpse! Rocket Knuckle, Elec Sword!"

"Program Advance! Elec, Flame, Aqua, Bamboo Sword! Slot In! Elemental Sword!" Enzan commanded.

"Eat this!"

"Impossible!"

"Hrah!"

"Ugra~h!"

"Another 22 seconds…!"

Blues hit Gray Thunderbolt with the Elemental Sword Program Advance just as the "copy" erased itself: Gray Thunderbolt hit the floor, hard, but wasn't giving up: he rushed towards Blues with his sword drawn and shot another "Rocket Knuckle" but when it Blues a _chibi_ doll appeared on his place and Blues jumped into the sky to shoot down a _shuriken_ at Gray Thunderbolt: he groaned and stepped back.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Vaccine Chip: fire!"

"Vaccine Chip: fire!"

Legato shot a blast of white energy which hit Gray Thunderbolt from behind and made him open his mouth wide as rainbow-colored energy surrounded his frame and blue energy began to run down his body spreading from the chest thus erasing his color and restoring it to normal: he roared and the purplish energy began to come out of his body and form a "face" which was missing a third of it.

"Sanctuary! Double Point! Holy Dream! Attack+30!" _Noir_ announced in a row.

"Holy Dream!"

The ground became "Sanctuary Panels" and Legato drew a weapon which began to pick off the energy of each "Sanctuary Panel" and shot it in the form of bluish spheroids: they bombarded the "face" and a scream of agony rang out as it was deleted: Gray Thunderbolt collapsed face-down on the ground out of energies.

"… Purge completed, sir." Legato reported.

"Phew." Enzan sighed in relief.

"I'm such an idiot, really."

"Anyone can make mistakes."

"Gray! You there…? Ah! What happened?"

"Hmmm? You're Ruthless Vine of the Seraphs!"

Ruthless Vine had suddenly dropped there and he gasped upon seeing his fallen comrade: he looked nervous.

"He toyed with a dangerous thing and we had to stop him before he destroyed everything on his wake." _Noir_ told him.

"Well… If you say so…"

"Let's pull out, Blues. The job's done." Enzan told him.

"Roger, sir."

"See you on Saturday." Legato told Ruthless Vine.

"We'll be looking forward to it!"

"O-oi!"

The two Navis came out and shut their communications screens while Ruthless Vine sighed and lifted Gray Thunderbolt's body.

"First the Prince is brought back by you and he's unconscious and now you get into a mess. What a lovely Thursday!" He grumbled.

"Puku! Heh, heh, heh! I can tell you who those guys were if ya give me 100,000Z! Puku!"

"Bubble Man the friend-seller! Get out of my sight you mercenary, traitor, dog, rascal!" Ruthless Vine cursed upon spotting him.

"Yikes! Puku! Run for your bubbles, puku!"

"Che! I'll settle it with you later: a friend of mine had to hide with that guy while he was trying to clear up that he was being framed but sold him out like you did with Rock Man, the hero! I'll make you regret having been programmed, you fiend!"

_Endless agony is waiting for you!_

17:17 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Well! Another day has ended. Tomorrow's a Friday!"

"Yup. And on Saturday we can expect developments."

"No need to wait for Saturday. Something's already happened."

"Whoa! Enzan. Been a while."

"Something happened, Blues?"

"Yeah. Something important."

Netto and Saito came out of the school and began to chat only to be called out by Enzan who was waiting nearby with his hands stuffed on his pockets and with Blues' hologram displaying his usual serious face.

"Gray Thunderbolt: he stole those "Dark Chips" things and used all of them so we had to put a halt to the guy about 2 hours ago. It wasn't easy or nice." Enzan sighed.

"Why?"

"Those things, when charged, can suddenly go out of control and create a duplicate which can use all Battle Chips in your Folder at random. And the more the guy used the more mad he became: luckily those were all "Dark Chips" which exist in the whole world but I wouldn't be surprised if they attempted to recreate something similar." He warned.

"And they would try to use them to gain an advantage on Saturday during the fight Miquel and his companions will have with them?" Netto quickly deduced.

"That'd be unfair." Saito complained.

"I'd rather say dangerous." Blues replied.

"But could they really do that in less than 48 hours?"

"If they found any remains of Twilight's notes…"

"Point is: we gotta be careful not to stumble upon any of those. Right?"

"Right. That's the point."

"Yo!"

"Whoa! Superintendent Oda! It's been a while, sir." Netto whistled in surprise.

"Did you hear about…?" Saito began.

"Yes, I did. But more importantly!"

"Yes, sir?" Both asked.

"Uncle Moran called."

"And?"

"… Will you serve some mineral water if you may? Certainly! Here you have! And as an aperitif… What would like? A frog? Slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly… You don't want to drown the pancreas…! CLING! ZUM! Oh! I think I made a mistake again… Brrr! You always do the same thing! How many times do I have to tell you? Don't stuff canteen bottle brandy on mineral water bottles!"

"Not another of those…" Enzan groaned.

"Yessir! Another one! I'm always trying to free customers who get stuck in the ceiling! Attention please! Danger is present above us! BROM! Y-you'll have to excuse me, Prof… I couldn't let that guy remain up there: doesn't fit with the ceiling's lamps… Well! Let's continue! There are signs that an "UFO" has landed on Level 59. But it's vanished, which means that it's gone and left some extraterrestrial invader loose there… Go there ASAP. Search, examine, investigate, destroy, eliminate, SQUISH THAT BLOODY CREATURE!"

"He sure has alien-phobia." Enzan sarcastically grumbled.

"Can I ask something…? You're not fond at all of extraterrestrials! Are you? Alright, alright! It was just a question! What mood! The Prof threw him a soda siphon and he ran off with the rabbit disguise."

"That joke about why they free the stuck customers was lame."

"Oh? Is that so?"

"So? What kind of alien was it?" Netto asked.

"None! The marks were left by a fatty man whose weight on the earth and his habit of having very long naps caused those marks to be left behind and which corresponded to his head, body and shoes!"

"So the whole thing was in vain?" Saito looked unimpressed.

"Ah! You're back? Did you find the footprints? Did you get rid of the invader? Have you gone mad? What are you doing? Halt! Don't run, cha! I just want to leave my own prints in cha coat! Don't be silly, Boss! You'll have to buy him a new one! Filemón wanted to do that with spiked mountain climbing boots!" He laughed.

"Ah." The four of them drily muttered.

"And I beat 33 aliens in the shooter game Hey Lo!" Dekao suddenly announced.

"LIAR!" Meiru and Yaito snapped.

"Come on." Hikawa was skeptical.

"Ooyama. Next time try to do some research. It's not "Hey Lo" but "Halo" to begin with. And you can kill that number of aliens, sure, but… Do you know who the protagonist is?" Enzan questioned.

"Huh? Who cares for the protagonist? Shooters are just to shoot!"

"Then you're old-school. Nowadays games have plots, even shooter games have some plot and Halo has pretty neat plots. How many games are there, anyway?"

"Just one! The ultimate one!"

"Wrong. 6."

"NO WAY!"

Dekao's jaw hit the floor while all of the others fumed and grumbled at his persisting stupidity…


	19. Chapter 19: Painful past

**Chapter 19: Painful past**

07:07 AM (Japan Time), Friday February the 21st…

"… No! Don't come any closer you damned proxy! I'll ruin you! Triple curse the fool who designed you! I'll smash you! Ugh…! Black… Blackness… I can't hear… I can't see… I'm collapsing… but…! I'll rise again…! Thanks to the "Ultimate… Orb"…! HUH!"

"Oi! _Aibou_! You alright?"

"… Reminiscence…"

"Sorry?"

"… What day is today?"

"Friday. You've been out for about… 20 hours."

"… 20 hours. I see."

"Eh… Do you need an aspirin or…?"

"… No."

"I'm on the way, right? I'll…"

"No. Stay. I need to talk with you."

"A-alright…"

Kuroban suddenly woke up inside of a room which only had a bed, a chair and a desk: he still had his armor on and Eisei had been sitting in a chair next to him: he stood up to leave but Kuroban recalled him.

"… Gray. Do you know what the "Ultimate Orb" does?"

"Well… Plenty of stuff, no? Run programs, attack enemies, warp persons or objects…"

"But its primary function is to serve as container of memories and personality… And those are mine."

"What? I'm not following."

"Look, Gray. That history about Thailand and all… It's not true. There's no present-day royal family bloodline. They were wiped out in the war of 4,000 years ago. The actual Mu sealing was done by the winners of the Mu Civil War. _They_ came up with the artifacts."

"What? Then… You are a human of 4,000 years ago…?"

"In mind. My body was designed not even two years ago by myself using the same technology I'd later use on you, Gray: genetic engineering. Until then I used another's body and acted as split personality. Those Mu fools were unable to get past the firewalls of the "Ultimate Orb" and instead split it into portions which they scattered around the world. Someone found the core section and woke me up. I became a "parasite mind" and used him to assemble it back… Then I abandoned him once I'd prepared my new body and began to draw plans for you, Gray, because I saw a lot of potential in you…" He narrated.

"I see… And one of those machines was the one which killed you so that's why you became hysterical upon seeing them again? It was like being back on the battlefield of 4,000 years ago?"

"Correct. Another reason why I never cancel my Denpa – Henkan is because I'm paranoid and I fear an attack but no conventional weapons can harm me in this state, not even a bomb detonated under the bed: I suffered an assassination attempt when I wasn't 12 yet and it marked me forever. The traitor who tried to do that was killed by my Father, the King, in the battlefield, because it was personal. Their vanguard soldiers of flesh and blood didn't dare to fight so then they came with some Denpa Bodies to finish us off."

"Whoa! Eh… And because His Majesty wanted the bloodline to be preserved and thought it could overcome Time they designed the "Ultimate Orb" into which you stored your memories and persona for millennia?"

"Correct. It was synched to me so that at the same time my body died the "Ultimate Orb" shut down and it was like being dead."

"Hum. Almost like the _Nameless Pharaoh_…"

"Who?"

"Ah! W-well, a _manga_ character… A Pharaoh of Egypt in an age 3,000 years ago… In order to seal a great "evil", he used 7 magical items named "Millennium Items" and his own name plus soul… He thus sacrificed himself for the sake of the future… When he was awakened he remembered nothing of himself, who he was or why he was a soul inside of an artifact… The story spins around this guy who is trying to figure out why his name was lost along with his memories… He was about 16 or 17 when he did that, so he was a bit younger than ya…"

"Hum. I see."

"And I gotta admit I screwed it up yesterday."

"Why?"

"I tried to use those "Dark Chips"…"

"WHAT?" He roared.

"…and I went berserk. Blues and Legato had to put me down and then Vine got me outta there."

"Didn't I tell you those were fatidic tools?" He grumbled.

"I know! But I was frustrated and annoyed and wanted to have a payback on Blues…"

"Whatever. We're not going to fight like idiots."

"So… What do we do?"

"Nothing's changed."

"Alright… "Seraph Tower" is running the last tests but they won't finish until 3AM tomorrow. Then the energy infusion will be ready by 8 AM and the whole ignition will only take about 5 minutes: we can begin it while we're rising to skip time: the rise-up will take about 4 minutes."

"Good. Has Burai shown his ugly hide around?"

"No. We've been watching all frequencies."

"Did you check the Continent?"

"I left a Killer Eye hidden in the ceiling. No – one's been there and Ra Mu's napping." He reported.

"Good. I'll have something to eat."

"Alright. I'll go to the living room: the guys will start to come in and we wanted to finish going over strategies. I suspected Kage will tag me as his rival and that his pal Zarashe will come. Slur is up to _aibou_. Now, regarding the other Navis… If they want elemental advantage… Maybe Burner Man, Freeze Man and Dark Man will come… That makes 6 VS 6."

"Sounds logical enough… And Slur can't be invincible: I just have to find the way to avoid having my attacks being shot back at me and the rest will follow." He muttered.

"Sure. But don't overdo it, either. You should take the day off and distract with a game or a video…"

"Alright… Did the old men say anything?"

"I cancelled another desperate idea of Number 6 to bring some mercenary to try to abduct Obihiro."

"The hacker and former leader of "Gospel"…"

"Hey. Remember that he'd been hypnotized and believed he was named "Kei Yuuki"…" Eisei reminded him.

"True. So you shot the idea down?"

"Obviously. We don't want to feel Golden Star's annoyance tomorrow morning, do we?" Eisei argued.

"True. The fool… Bah! I wasn't counting 100% on the tower anyway: that's the side-dish. The main dish is the Continent. I can make it come out into the "real" world. And from there we'd be able to show them how foolish they've been to call past ages "barbaric ages"…"

"But I'm really surprised at how you came up with such tech 4,000 years ago… Who began it?"

"Dunno. It'd seem the true origin lied more than 1,000 years in the past by my age. There'd always been some speculations given some texts which had been passed down by the previous ruling families that they'd made contact with "someone" which showed them the way… To both my kingdom and Mu…" He trailed off.

"How curious. Wait! Could they be… aliens?"

"Why not…" He shrugged.

PONG! PENG! PUNG! PING! PANG!

"Oops. My email. Sorry… Hum… Ah! Youtube newsletter… Good, good, that's fine, yeah… Alright… I'll check it out later… See you around, _aibou_, I'll be in the living room…"

"Go."

Eisei came out while Kuroban brought the right hand to his head: he then stood up while mumbling in a foreign idiom and spotted his sword and shield which had been left atop the desk: he picked the sword and distractedly looked at its blade.

"As I suspected: shield and sword alone sans the "power source" won't do much good. I should set my sights in locating them: they must be kept in the same place they were in my age, I guess. And I doubt any modern geologist having realized their trick, anyway." He muttered.

He then walked off into the balcony to see that the day was a grey one with dense clouds covering the skies and a cold wind: Kuroban leant his upper body on the handrail and looked out.

"… I need to control my emotions or I'll make a fool of myself. I can't allow that to happen. I'd be laughing at my education. Really. Some may call me conservative and whatever but tradition is tradition: royal families have softened up in today's world… Well. Not all of them… And lost authority and respect… But if there's one thing I still have is pride and honor: and nothing can take those away with me, not even 4,000 years."

_I will defeat Burai. And then bring glory back to my tribe!_

11:22 AM (Japan Time)…

"… "Go on ahead: I need to make sure the computer finishes installing the updates."… And that was half an hour ago. What's taking _niisan_ so long, anyway…? Huh? Hey! There he comes… Hmmm? What. Trying to ignore me or what… OI!"

"Huh? Yeah?"

"Not "yeah"! Kei! Don't ignore me!"

"Sorry! Wrong person."

"What?"

"Is this ID proof enough?"

"Ah! Atarasei Oscar…? Sorry, sorry! You looked like my big brother: I got the wrong person…"

"No problem. Bye."

"B-bye…"

A teen guy with short combed black hair and brown irises who looked around 16 years old and appealed to be over a meter and seventy tall had been standing and pacing in an alley close to a shopping mall's entrance while muttering aloud.

His clothes were a simple brown wool sweater, a pair of jeans and greenish sneakers.

He'd seen Styx coming down the alley and called out to him mistaking him for another person until Styx produced an ID of his own and the guy realized the mistake.

"… Something about him gave me a vibe… And what if the guy's Kei – niisan disguised to pull a prank on me and test me? I'll follow him and settle this: in any case he can contact me into the cell-phone to begin with, so…" He suddenly muttered.

_You're not going to trick me so easily! Kei – niisan!_

The guy set off to follow Styx while always managing to find a spot to hide at: Styx seemed to be pretty distracted today given how his hands were stuffed in the pockets and he'd lowered the head: he stopped at a press stand and bought the newspapers: the guy did the same and spotted the front page headline.

"… "A MESSAGE FROM "CHARON" TO THE MEDIA! Ladies and gentlemen: it has been amusing to test your security systems and such but all fun will come to an end this evening. My duty will be wrapped up and some persons will see to it that the objects are gradually returned to their places except for some which have another use and are necessary for the time being. But something else will be worth your attention at some moment this same weekend. Yours gallantly, Charon." … W-whoa! So after 80 robberies in 16 days the guy is gonna quit with his 85th robbery? Why not go up until you reach the 100th while you're at it?" He wondered aloud after reading.

He looked up and saw Styx heading into the parking: the guy quickly ducked behind a car and heard him chuckle as he folded the paper: he nodded sideways with the head and made a sight which sounded like he was resigning.

"Ah! The media, the media… How easy they are to use! Well! One last job tonight and then I can sit back and see Saturday's show. Too bad, Dullahan, but I win in the end! Heh, heh, heh! You're so stupid, really… It's obvious that I deserved being in the spotlight!"

_I guess I did pick the wrong person and…! HEY! Wait a min! You're not gonna tell me he's "Charon" in person! I've been trailing THE "Charon" and stumbled upon his car?_

The wall slid and the guy quickly rushed inside: he spotted Styx heading deeper in but he opened a closet with the cleansing utensils and hid behind some planks.

"… I'm back, Baron – sama. Did you read the note which the higher-ups sent to the press, sir?"

"I did. It had a flavor of drama to it."

_That man's voice…! Impossible…! No…! It couldn't be…! That voice which we've only heard through the phone or video-calls for the larger part of these last 15 months…! And we've barely physically met the owner…!_

"… Styx! Who did you conspire with?"

"Not again…"

"DULLAHAN!"

"Yikes!"

"WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO EVEN SPEAK? HUH?"

"Eh…"

"STAY SILENT! I WON'T LET THE LAST 22 HOURS BE RUINED BECAUSE OF YOUR PARANOIA! THIS ISN'T A HOLMES STORY IN WHICH HE FINDS OUT SOMEONE MADE UP A TALE TO COVER THE REAL CRIME AND IN WHICH HOLMES FINDS OUT THE TRUTH! THIS IS REALITY!"

_No doubt anymore! That powerful commanding voice when angered and driven to fury…! I gotta get outta here and meet with Kei – niisan! I gotta tell him that, but I'd like to leave a sign of my visit…! Maybe this would convince him to finally explain us the truth?_

"… I can picture the guy trembling in fear, sir."

"Fine! I don't need to make the Prince nervous more than he is: I heard he collapsed yesterday from stress."

_Prince? What "Prince"? Oi, oi! It can't be the Emperor's son, can it?_

"I shall be in my room… Call me if you need me, sir."

"Alright. I'll go contact HQ to see if there are any special orders for me so I'll be on the safe room adjacent to the command room…"

_Chance!_

The guy heard two doors shutting and then rushed out and into the room where the armchair was: he quickly scribbled something there and then rushed out while looking anxious…

11:47 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Jake!"

"Yikes! Sorry, sorry, Kei – niisan! I'm late, I know!"

"Where'd you go off to?"

"Something happened…!"

"Why don't you say you were in the store and didn't wait for me?"

"No, no… It's not like that…"

The guy, Jake, returned to where he'd been at and found another guy who looked like he was of a similar age: his hair and eyes were identical and the only difference was that he was about five inches taller than Jake and his face appealed as being more mature.

His clothes were a greenish wool sweater, jeans and brown sneakers.

"Jeez! You're my little twin brother and you pull this on me: we're 16!"

"Yeah… But, see… A guy crossed paths with me and I thought it was you pulling a joke on me but it was "Charon"…"

"Come on! You expect me to believe that?"

"Then explain this."

Jake played the recording and Kei gasped upon hearing to its contents.

"I saw him from behind: he had a mask on… But the height and hair-cut were the same… It was him, Kei – niisan… I found _Father_." Jake whispered to him.

"By all the…! But… What has he gotten involved into these last 15 months, then?" He gasped.

"Dunno. But I got daring enough to scribble a little note on a metallic armchair he had. I wrote "tell us the truth" and I signed with my initials so even if I was mistaken then… There are plenty of "D. J" guys out there and they can't be checked one by one."

"I see…! Well… So if he'll come then he'll rather come… home. Let's hurry back there and wait to see if he appears…!"

"Yeah… Pure dumb luck, really!"

"And you say that "Charon" was there?"

"Yeah! A guy like you or me… I dunno how he managed but he was the guy without mistake… They named him Styx… He had a civilian ID named Atarasei Oscar too…"

"Cool…"

"And there was someone named Dullahan who began to say he was conspiring but Father snapped at him: apparently it isn't the first time and Father was fed up. Do you remember those commanding yells he used to say over the phone before he stopped coming home so often?" Jake kept on describing.

"Oh yeah. I sure do."

"Well. That's another thing which made me believe it was the same person… To think that he was but 40 minutes' walk from home these last 15 months…! Well! I know he's come back in person for our birthday, our graduation day, Christmas, New Year's and such but that barely amounts to 10% of his period!" Jake muttered.

"Yeah… And he'd always come in a very secretive manner and never speak about his job. He said it was "fine" but he always looked so depressed and worried and was always looking out into the street from time to time: he installed a wireless alarm set on the house too and a CCTV camera on the building's entrance…! Almost as if he feared he was being followed by someone!" Kei brought up next.

"And that brings up to the question we've asked ourselves countless times already: what mess has he gotten himself into?"

"Say, the name Styx just rang a bell… Father said he'd been a passionate of ancient Greece, right?" Kei recalled.

"True."

"Hmmm… Here! Styx: one of the rivers flowing into the Hades or Hell in the Greek mythology. And see this! Charon was the boatman who ferried the dead into the river previous payment of two silver coins hence why Greeks placed coins over the eyes of the dead before they were buried or cremated: to pay their fare to Charon…" He read from his Link PET's holographic screen.

"And can you find if Dullahan is a mythological guy too?" Jake asked next with eagerness.

"Yeah. Irish headless knight. Ah! And he's also a secret boss on those successful _Golden Sun_ games… A dreadful boss which protects the most powerful of "Summons"… And see this! This Dullahan can "summon" Charon! They're all tied together! The names are no coincidence at all, Jake!" He exclaimed.

"Whoever came up with this was very smart."

"Really smart. Now I believe that something's been brewing under everyone's noses and that the murders, robberies and the show of "Charon" were all intended to focus our attention there giving the conspirers a clear road to finish their plot."

"Look! We've been talking a lot while walking and we're five minutes away from the apartment… Let's go there… We were lucky that our institute chose this Friday as the February break day."

"True."

They both fell silent as if being in a state of expectation: they gasped when they reached the building and saw a green Subaru car parked in the street in one of the parking spots: they rushed over to it and checked it out from close quarters.

"No mistaking it! Father's car!"

"He came!"

"Let's hurry before he tries to return!"

"Yeah! Today we'll get the truth!"

They both rushed up the stairs to the 3rd floor without waiting for the elevator and Kei drew a key from his jeans' pockets to unlock the door and they both rushed in while taking off the shoes and putting on the slippers noticing a pair of brown shoes in the shoe rack.

"Father's shoes…!"

They both rushed into the living room and found a man sitting on the sofa there: he looked on his late fifties, had blackish hair like them and also the same type of eye irises.

"Sons."

"Father!"

"It's been a while."

"Two months, more or less, but… You saw my message!" Kei exclaimed while brushing the earlier topic.

"I did."

"Explain! Why were you conspiring with a murderer and a thief? There better be some good reason!" Kei demanded.

"Sit down. I'll confess. The whole tale can be over by tomorrow if all goes well, anyhow."

"So? What happened 15 months ago?" Jake asked.

"I discovered something terrific."

"What? But you were working in an architect's office and were in charge of finances and such, right?" Kei frowned.

"Yes! But I was contacted by a mysterious man who said that my skills had been tested for the last 4 years I'd been working there after my earlier job had come to halt because of the company's bankruptcy. Well. The man told me he wanted me to supervise the economics of some project but that I had to be very discreet. I was given 48 hours to think about it and if not they'd pick someone else. But I was lured in by being paid an advance of half my future salary… Almost 3 times my current one at the time!"

"What!" Both gasped.

"I fell for it and then I was reeled in by being told the nature of the project and its secret air… I quickly realized I was threading into thin ice and fearing for you two I wrote myself as a bachelor and modified some of my life's details such as the address, the bank accounts and anything which could hint at your existence. They fell for it."

"So that's why you were always looking like someone was spying you and visited us so little!" Jake realized.

"Correct. And that project will be unveiled tomorrow."

"And all these incidents starting half a year ago were part of a gigantic-scale distraction?" Kei guessed.

"True. That was designed by the new leader of this organization named the "Seraphs"… Prince Kuroban was his name and he suddenly appeared on my office one evening I was working alone and over-time because I wanted to finish the monthly report. He said he'd arranged for me to supervise a mission he'd entrusted to two "recruits", a young man and a robot piloted by a Navi. I was given the alias "Dread Baron" and a disguise to hide my ID from them… And then relocated there but with my duties not having changed… He told me he just wanted me to be their commander and occasionally report to him on their behavior because he suspected they'd quarrel given some fall-out in the past."

"And that's why Dullahan accused Styx of being a conspirer after he stepped into the base?" Jake asked.

"Yes. It drove me mad, as you saw. I was fed up with his paranoid Cold War military officer behavior. Ironically, Styx never sought to start a fight and quickly began to pretend Dullahan wasn't there when he could which proved he was being wise and hasn't stopped being so for these six months… I don't know their origins."

"So their missions had been scripted beforehand and you aren't responsible for what happened?"

"No. They simply did what they'd been told."

"And who is "Prince Kuroban", the Emperor's son?" Jake ventured.

"Oh no! A descendant of an old royal family in northern Thailand… He came along with a young man named Eisei Aaron who usually comes to chat with Styx… He seems to be in charge of doing jobs there and there like a right hand man…"

"Hum. We see. And what's that so-famous project?" Kei brought up.

"Seraph Tower… And the reasons for it will become obvious tomorrow at 10 AM. Dullahan was in charge of the construction site monitoring but he'd been neglecting and bashing at Styx out of grudge and jealousy for him being the star and because Dullahan had remained largely unknown during this time…"

"It must've been stressful."

"Totally. Hard to believe he has a mental age of 30-40 and he behaves like a spoiled kid." He sighed.

"Did anyone know you were coming?"

"Of course not! I just said I had to go out and Styx will be resting for some hours before going out on his last mission tonight while Dullahan has to make sure the simulations finish as scheduled."

"So… When this thing is over… Then there'll be no need to remain away anymore, Father?" Jake eagerly asked.

"That's what I hope: fortunately Prince Kuroban has told me I'm free to pick if I want to switch to another job and says he'll back me up because I've done a good job."

"How old is he?"

"25, 26, I'd say. Hard to tell with that odd armor he's always wearing no matter what the season is…"

"Armor?" Jake wondered.

"Have a look at this photo: it looks like armor, doesn't it? I've never seen him to take it off and I think he sleeps with that on even."

"It must be pretty uncomfortable, no?" Kei frowned.

"I wouldn't know."

"What kind of person is he?"

"Well… From the time I've met him… Calm. That's the first impression of his person that he produces: calmness. He remains calm and quiet except when dealing with Dullahan's idiocies: that's the only moment I've ever seen him annoyed. At the beginning his Japanese was not very good but he's been improving over the months."

"And how did Styx jump so quickly between spots separated by tens of kilometers?"

"He used a machine the "Seraphs" developed to become data and be transferred wirelessly towards the coordinates where he was materialized again… That's how it works."

"WHOA!" Both gasped.

"But you must keep this conversation a secret until tomorrow! I'll come down by the afternoon because I suspect that the opposition will end up making the "Seraph Tower" project be a waste of time, money and resources and will only end up being some caprice. A Pharaoh-like project, they'd name it, something which isn't really needed but it's made for profits: it's happened here in Japan during the 60s, 70s and 80s with the construction rush and the favors." He shrugged his shoulders.

"And what's that supposed to accomplish?" Jake wondered aloud while looking curious.

"Be the sign of their rule over this planet: they're crazy enough to have staged coups in various countries and prepared some risings in others so as to gain more power: they've been at it for 50 years but I believe Prince Kuroban wasn't that interested in that."

"Yikes. Then let's hope it really proves to be in vain and it crushers their evil ambitions…!" Kei gasped.

The father merely nodded in grave manner while they shuddered…


	20. Chapter 20: Global blackness

**Chapter 20: Global blackness**

09:51 AM (Japan Time), Saturday February the 22nd…

"… Good morning to all our viewers! I am Midorikawa Kero: your favorite face of the DNN TV station! Today we're going to broadcast something special from the Densan Tower Plaza!"

Enzan was sitting inside of the living room of the Net Police HQ watching the TV: Kero was looking at the camera, but, behind her, the distinct shape of Densan Tower could be seen so Enzan glared at his wrist watch and then looked up again.

"Oh my! Someone's calling me… Helllo, hello?"

"Good morning, Midorikawa – san." A man's voice greeted.

"Ah! The informer!"

"Indeed. Make sure to get a good spot to watch a drama unfold."

"D-drama!" She gasped.

"Kidding. More like a show."

"Ah! You scared me, sir!"

"My bad. I've been reading too much Shakespeare."

"…Reading Shakespeare… Well. Why not…" Enzan muttered.

"… Oi. Is this roof strong enough? It feels like it's thinner than a wooden plank…"

"Chut! Silence!"

"R-roger!"

"A roof? What? The roof of Densan Tower?"

"No, no. The roof of an apartment building…"

"PONG! PANG! PUNG! PING! PENG!"

"Oh my! Is there someone from Choina there?"

"How many times do I have to tell you to mute the PET?"

"S-sorry."

"That's the email tune? How silly. And I know that voice: Eisei." Enzan grumbled.

"The moon?" Oda joked as he popped up.

"No, sir."

"Then what? Titan?"

"No, sir! When I said "Eisei" I didn't mean a natural "satellite" but someone's name! Eisei Aaron!"

"Ah! My bad. So! What's going on?"

"They're going to do it."

"Do what?"

"Bring up the tower."

"PUAH! By Merton!" He spat some water from the surprise.

"I thought we'd told you, sir."

"I'd forgotten. Guess too much _sake_ at Ondo's birthday party."

"Hum. I see."

"09:55:13 AM, sir." Blues announced.

"…Good! Ignition has begun… Don't move from there!" The informer (or, rather, Kuroban) whispered in the background.

"Roger."

"Ignition? Of the car?" Midorikawa tried to guess.

"You never know."

"Now, sir. Is this a joke?"

"No, no."

"Ke-Kero – san! T-the tower!"

"The tower? W-WHA~T?"

"By Merton!"

Densan Tower began to rattle and shake and then began to sink into the ground while forming clouds of dust around the area: a loud mechanical hum rang out all of a sudden followed by an even louder noise yet the dust hid the view of what was going on: there was a metallic CLANG noise and the engine noise died away to be replaced by a succession of curious ignition-like noises and an intermittent beeping sound: the sound gave way to continuous beeping: a red thin laser shout from ground level while aiming for the skies and it broke down into several which began to form curved pathways climbing up until they fused into a climbing inverted tornado.

"W-what's going on?"

"Heh, heh, heh. Lights! Camera! Action!"

The dust cleared to give way to a building which had emerged out of the ground as if per magic.

The building was a steel-built construct which had a main rectangular base about six meters tall and three wide with two doors measuring about two meters in height had been installed there: three round circles in which vultures' faces had been sculpted had been set forming a triangle over the entrance doors as if to intimidate the visitors.

Three cylindrical towers rose from that base until they reached a height of about ten meters: the centermost one was about fifteen meters tall and soared over the other two which had two raw steel beams connecting to the walls of the central tower: they didn't have any painting and the wielded and screwed metal plates used to build them were clearly visible on them: several "Dimensional Converters" popped out from a circle in the midst of each plate and there were about eight per floor with a space of two meters between floor: thus each side-tower had five floors and 40 "DC" each with a total of 80.

The central tower didn't have any "DCs" and instead had an enclosed spiraling stairway climbing up the tower from the outside and having two small emergency use stairs connecting with the steel beams leading to the side-towers the tops of which had closed round hatches which apparently allowed one to come inside: the top of the central tower had a satellite antenna dish with four bars holding a small ring on place which was obviously used to amplify the output signal but it wasn't a mere signal that which was being outputted but a beam of white energy shooting skywards to feed a spheroid of white energy: its own energy was riding upon the laser-made inverted tornado.

The whole thing looked sinister and ominous yet it seemed to be more of a gigantic machine than a building to begin with.

"Surprise, surprise. Zoom on the satellite dish."

"Ke… Kero – san! It's just 09:59:57 AM…! This has been done with mechanical precision so that it'll be ready by 10 AM sharp like they'd told us over the phone!" The cameraman whispered off-screen.

"By all the…! Look! There are some persons up there!"

The camera quickly zoomed there and they spotted Kuroban and five figures hidden under black tunics and heavy hoods standing in the background: Kuroban had an iPhone on his right hand and was smiling as he looked down (literally) on the avenue and the crowd of curious who had assembled there.

"This ain't a film." He announced over the iPhone.

"Yikes!" Midorikawa gasped.

"It's a sign… Of the new age. The rule of the Seraphs has begun!"

"The Seraphs!"

"And we'll show you why we are above you. You guys!"

"Roger!"

"Do it! Show it to the world!"

"DENPA – HENKAN!"

The five of them transformed into their Denpa – Henkan forms and Midorikawa was pale by now.

"This isn't an _otaku_ show either! This is reality! Harsh, cruel reality! Overwhelming reality! My name is Kuroban Howsad: the head of the "Seraphs" and heir Prince to the present-day bloodline of the On'Setsu Kingdom! Look up your history books!" He added the last word with obvious sarcasm.

The sound of a helicopter grew closer and Kuroban grinned as he spotted one coming from the SE: a KA-62 civilian model chopper which had the Golden Star logo painted on both sides of the fuselage: the bay doors were open and two cloaked figures could be made standing there along with other blurry figures.

"They came. Good. And here I thought this was going to be dull and uninteresting." He muttered.

"Oh my! Isn't that the logo of the famed "Golden Star"?" Midorikawa wondered as the cameraman aimed there.

"Hum. I didn't know they owned a chopper. Guess they bought it recently and decided to be slightly dramatic." Enzan muttered.

"Superintendent Oda! Confirmation from the Science Labs: a gigantic "Dimensional Area" is surrounding the planet past the atmosphere: all global satellites have confirmed it! A change in environmental light and atmosphere is expected to begin to settle in 5 minutes from now in Japan and it'll gradually spread to the rest of the globe! UACK!"

THUD! CRASH!

"O~w!"

"Meijin! Are you alright? What happened?" Oda gasped and tended to Meijin who'd suddenly come running down the stairs and fallen along them into the ground.

"O~w… I tripped with the right shoe's loose strings…!"

"Jet Vernier!"

"Jet Vernier!"

Two of the figures jumped off the chopper and used some kind of jet-packs to hover down and land in the right side of the central tower while the left side was held by Kuroban and the other five.

"Hah!"

The first figure tugged the cloak and tossed it away to reveal Kage, who'd performed some kind of "fusion" with Andy.

"Meet Cross Fusion Kage Miquel and Andy!"

"Cross Fusion Kage" had Andy's bodysuit over his normal clothes but with some design differences: the plating over his shoulders had a more pyramid-like form and was aiming towards the NW and NE.

The helmet's design was different as well: a silver-colored fin-shape piece formed at the sides, emerging from the ear pads' upper edge and extended until the end of the helmet: an arch was drawn over it and the space inside of it had a deeper tonality of silver.

A complicated drawing was imprinted within the forehead and the helmet's front now extended until the start of the nose: his hair now flowed out in a more natural manner from behind it.

A bronze-colored border formed around the shoulders' edges and a straight line travelled towards the emblem to form a curve surrounding the lower half of it: the curve ended with a small "spike" drawing pointing downwards.

His forearm design included a thin separation around the elbow: the two combined section formed a hexagon with a golden-colored jewel set on its center: the short section set on the rear half of the elbow was colored bronze while the rest of the forearm was slightly brighter.

The bronze borders travelling down the sides of his upper body ended around the hips: two circular bands of a bronze color were drawn over them with a small separation between them.

His boots' design was based upon that of his forearms: the soil was painted black and separated from the rest of the foot by a thin bronze-colored line.

The jetpack design had changed a bit, too, and it now included bright silver pieces connecting the upper right and left edges with the body: a curved golden line was drawn half-way across it: the rest of the backpack looked identical to Andy's usual form.

"Cross Fusion Zarashe Wan and Beta X save the day~!"

"Cross Fusion Zarashe" added ruby diamonds to the knee-guards and the armor around the elbows: some purple-colored patterns on the upper chest formed an angel's silhouette while the legs had the _Kanji_ for "senshi" ("warrior") drawn on them.

His helmet had had a slight redesign too to include a sparkling purple five-pointed star on its forehead.

Lastly, he had a dull green and metallic gray backpack with two jets attached to his back which obviously allowed him to fly.

"Dark Man's come!"

"Heh, heh, heh… Freeze Man has landed."

"Heh! Burner Man's come to burn and smoke!"

"And here I am as well… So! Seraphs. We shall see if your power is as much as you claim to have."

"Yikes. That Slur gives me the creeps…"

"To anyone, to anyone…"

Dark Man, Freeze Man and Burner Man landed next to the other two thus forming a row while Slur descended from above and calmly hovered about two centimeters off the ground while being the spearhead: she looked amused and her glare was enough to set Raging Flame and Blue Wave nervous.

"Hmpf. So you came. Slur." Kuroban grinned.

"The same can be said of you, young Kuroban."

"Too many people here… Our battleground shall be the Wave Road! There I go!"

"Very well… Remember the orders: if you see they are unable to fight then pull back. Someone will come to take care of the last details." Slur glanced at the other five over her right shoulder.

"Roger!"

"Kage's my prey!" Gray Thunderbolt exclaimed.

"I'll have Freeze Man!" Raging Flame laughed.

"Burner Man's mine!" Blue Wave signaled.

"Dark Man's my stuff then!" Fighting Cyclone proclaimed.

"Guess Zarashe's mine!" Ruthless Vine grinned.

"Come!"

"Here we go!"

Gray Thunderbolt drew the Elec Sword and jumped at "CF Kage" who drew a Bamboo Sword to counter: Raging Flame tried to attack Freeze Man with his flames but Freeze Man chuckled and formed a carcass of ice around his body: Blue Wave drew two Aqua Swords and clashed with Burner Man who wasn't surprised while, lastly, Fighting Cyclone formed a tornado around his body and flew towards Dark Man who switched to a brownish color.

"… I see… Wave Roads… And that is how you move from place to place undetected…" Slur muttered as she looked at it.

"Come! Aristeros Shield! Dexia Sword!"

"Hum. So shield and sword it shall be. I shall go with sword then."

Slur drew her yellow sword while Kuroban picked his weapons: he then rushed forward while using the shield to protect himself: Slur calmly waited for him and then she used her sword to counter.

"Hum. It did not make contact… I see… There is a small field of energy impeding contact… No problem…"

"Eat Dexia Sword!"

Slur brought up her blade to block it but it was shattered: Kuroban hit her right arm but the sword wouldn't get past the outer layer of her cloth: now it was Kuroban's turn to be surprised yet he didn't have much time to wonder because Slur built up white energy in her right hand and then used it to bombard Kuroban's shield thus making him recoil: Kuroban fumed and was seemingly trying to think of another approach.

"Sacred Gale!"

A purplish tornado formed on the Wave Road and then rushed towards Slur while the shape of a purple dragon could be seen hovering inside of its core: Slur merely looked up to it and smiled as she drew a red thin circle over the tornado and then had it expand to shower the tornado with white energy which destroyed it: she then saw a blue wave heading towards her with a bluish crocodile with armor made of ice and sapphire eyes appeared and opened the mouth to display teeth made of ice: it looked threatening enough but Slur quickly got into a "Fumikomizan" pose and dashed through it cutting an opening.

"Che. You've laughed at two deities but you won't laugh at the other two which form the "Four Heavenly Kings"…"

"How curious. My creators were foolish enough to think they had created a cybernetic God."

"What? But I thought you'd formed on your own?"

"That was a cover tale I myself spun."

"What!"

"I am… _an extraterrestrial Net Navi_."

"NO WAY!"

"Did you not say it? This is overwhelming reality."

"What kind of cybernetic God?"

"They named it "Duo" and it rode upon a large spacecraft 200 meters long and about 4.05 million tons heavy... It could camouflage as a comet and it had tools onboard which could permit evolution."

"What!"

"Yet he was arrogant. Too arrogant. Such power at his disposal turned him into a program obsessed with "perfection" and began to see "flaws in Network evolution" everywhere. His original goal was to monitor the Universe, make a catalogue of planets, and erase those dangerous, including his own home world. I survived because we kept several colonies there and there and one did land on Earth 5,000 years ago. That is when your ancestors gained that technology: they were seen as mere foreigners given their "human" appearance…" She explained.

"By all the…"

"I did not mean to offend your tribe's deities but I cannot happen but remember about him."

"And he's never found Earth in these 5,000 years?"

"Oh. He did. 2,350 years ago. But there obviously was not a trace of Network technology so he only did a quick glance and continued deeper into the Milky Way."

"Phew."

"Yes, I myself dreaded that he could come at the same time my creators did and destroy them along with this world but my creators decided not to share Network technology but their control over matter from which you have benefitted. Their colony was then hid and remains undetected to the date... Do you remember the north borders of your kingdom?"

"Of course."

"I would say about 700 kilometers from there."

"There were a lot of mountains as far as I know."

"Did you ever get any explanation of why that region was abandoned which was not the terrain or weather?"

"No. But if a millennium had passed by then it's no wonder that no – one saw a need to go there. Other tribes had begun to form."

"Well then. Enough chatter. Let us continue."

"Fine! Sacred Land!"

A tiger with an armor composed by earth and stone and having emerald eyes formed in the air and roared: it suddenly forward while forming large stones which flew across the Wave Road which bombarded Slur: she recoiled but the rocks left just some light scratches on her.

"So you aren't invincible!"

"I never said I was." She shrugged.

"Crap. I talk too much."

"So. Who is next?" She taunted.

"Che! Sacred Flames!"

A hawk-like animal having a tail of flames and a crown of flames formed and beat its wings to form purplish flames surrounding Slur and climbing up her body but she formed a field of yellow energy as she shot skywards like a rocket and then dived for Kuroban who drew the shield: the impact of the mass of energy (Slur herself was floating in the air) produced a large explosion which Kuroban barely blocked: he panted while Slur landed on the ground.

"You should be honored to know you are the first to actually wound me in a fair battle."

"Y-yeah, guess that… High One!"

"What?"

"… Mwo, hoh, hoh, hoh. So you swallow your pride and summon me, eh, Prince?" A guttural voice rang out.

"… Ah. A program which is being run by the "Ultimate Orb"… I like that better. For a moment I thought it could be real." She muttered.

"Forbidden Blast!"

"What!"

A fireball formed on the sky and expanded until it hit the ground around Slur and formed spirals of flames which latched to her body and actually began to leave burn marks on it and delete parts of it: Kuroban aimed the blade towards her and began to walk towards her at a steady pace.

"And so it ends like this!" He laughed.

"… Fool." A man's voice scoffed.

"What! Burai!"

He found Burai standing in another Wave Road five meters to the left and two taller: he had his arms folded and was looking down (literally) on Kuroban.

"A battle isn't decided by one attack."

"Out of my way!"

"… Fine. But soon Ra Mu will be back in our hands."

"You damned lapdog!"

"Besides. You lowlife's favorite pawn has run into trouble."

Kuroban looked back at the tower: Blue Wave was on his fours and panting after having apparently beaten Burner Man somehow: "CF Zarashe" was exchanging kicks and punches with Ruthless Vine, Raging Flame was clearly beaten while Freeze Man was unharmed, Fighting Cyclone was trying to dodge a blackish and purplish axe chasing him while Dark Man had transformed into bats and, lastly, Gray Thunderbolt was attacking "CF Kage" with his best attack but "CF Kage" kept on fighting despite his heavy injuries.

"By all the… What a panorama!"

"It'd seem that young man mistook reality for _Pocket Monsters_, Prince Kuroban." Freeze Man called out.

"Ah! Fire beasts Ice but you're "Water"!" He gasped.

"This fallen angel wannabe! Stay quiet so I can beat ya~!" Ruthless Vine was fed up by now.

"I won't make it easy!" "CF Zarashe" chuckled.

"Damn! Caught between the sword and the wall!" Fighting Cyclone cursed aloud.

"Heh, heh, heh." Dark Man simply chuckled.

"You super-hero man! I'll beat ya yet!" Gray Thunderbolt growled.

"Well. I dunno." "CF Kage" simply replied.

"… Kuroban Howsad… You _are_ a worthy foe, but, sadly enough… You fall short." A voice rang out.

Kuroban gasped and looked forward to see Slur: she'd gotten some burnt spots on her suit and some wounds had lost integrity and were leaking data yet her smile and gaze were unaffected: she was still standing and showed no symptoms of being tired at all.

"By all the… What strength!"

"I have lived for over 5,000 years yet most of them were spent in hibernation and within a spaceship which I used to travel the universe always trying to avoid meeting "Duo"… I continued the mission he neglected… But in the end my curiosity drew me back to Earth five years ago… And I was intrigued… Thus I grounded myself here, spent time getting up-to-date in the most recent events and met Serenade whose ideals fascinated me… I hold no grudge or hatred. We fought to see who was stronger. Yet it would seem I have the upper hand." She calmly announced.

"I heard the earlier talk. I think I should feel grateful to your creators, Slur, because they paved the way for the Mu Empire to exist."

"Feel free to make your choices, proud warrior."

"Ah! I like that but one can't skip that." He grinned.

"Ra~rgh! Elemental Cyclone~!"

"Mugro~h!"

"Oh! Good, Vine, good!"

Kuroban spotted how Ruthles Vine ran out of patience and formed a greenish cyclone built up of countless green leaves to hit "CF Zarashe" and knock him into the right tower's roof: he landed there with a THUD sound and groaned as his "Cross Fusion" broke down and formed his PET again which expelled a curious Chip: it differentiated from a Battle Chip because it had no label and instead had an emerald dome made of some slightly transparent material similar to glass in the center of it surrounded by a black edge: the Golden Star logo had been set at a small scale SE of the dome and the contacts were different: the feeling of it was something else as well.

"Zarashe – kun! You alright? Huff, huff…"

"Heh… Not bad…"

Beta X quickly materialized and crouched next to him to check on him but Zarashe just chuckled.

"Super North-Wind!"

"Killer Beam!"

"Gotcha. Curse Shield 3!"

"Off! Muwa~h! Huff, huff… By Moran! What a blow… Now I know the extent of my own power…"

"Oh. So he decided to imitate me. Not bad."

Slur glanced at how Fighting Cyclone came up with a trick to bounce Dark Man's attack back at him and beat him before collapsing out of the effort done: only Gray Thunderbolt and "CF Kage" continued fighting.

"Thunderbolt… Blade!"

"Come!"

Gray Thunderbolt hit "CF Kage" but a _chibi_ doll dropped into the ground and "CF Kage" began to bombard him with a row of _shuriken_, 10 in total, which brought Gray Thunderbolt to his fours.

"D-damn… Bodyguard Program Advance…!" He groaned.

"So! I can see that three of us have been beaten: and another three of you have fallen. What do they name this…? Stalemate?" Slur amusedly told him.

"Che. Guess so…! But at least I've proven to those herds of ignorant that you guys aren't invincible or ultimate!"

"We never said we were."

"Hah." Burai taunted.

"I'll settle it with you lowlife tomorrow morning!"

"Come anytime."

"Yo. I'm late."

"What the… Zero?"

Zero appeared on the spot standing on the south-facing edge of the satellite dish which was still emitting: he carried an electric guitar plus a pair of speakers.

"Let's go! _Rock 'n roll_ goes this Michael Jackson wannabe! _Oh yeah! Cry, baby_!"

He hit the strings and an explosion rang out in the west wing of the tower's base: the left tower's "DCs" immediately shut down and the central beam seemed to have some loss of power.

"It couldn't be!" Kuroban gasped.

"Hum! Amusing." Burai grinned.

"Wanna more, _babe_? _Hey! Listen_! _Yahoo_!"

He hit the strings to produce a loud noise again and a second explosion happened in the right wing of the building: the right tower's "DCs" lost power too and the central beam became pretty thin.

"_Encore_! _Finale_! _OH YEAH_! _Blow 'em up, Lucy_!"

He made a rocker's pose and hit the guitar a third time to make an explosion ring out in the base of the tower: the beam disappeared along with the laser and energy sphere: the blackened and color-distorted sky began to clear up.

"Bah! Whatever! I wasn't betting all of my money on that to begin with, anyway!" Kuroban fumed.

"You were betting it on Michael Jackson's world tour, then?" Zero taunted as he called out to him.

"Whatever the ever! I'm off! I'll remember this! And you herd of ignorant fools! Know this! This isn't over! Not by a long shot!"

The "Seraph" members warped out while Zero aimed the guitar north and there was a momentary flash before Densan Tower appeared again drawing gasps from the audience.

"No big deal! The tower was just hidden, see. This one was brought up from the underground." He announced.

"However! Be warned. This is not victory or defeat. It is a stalemate. We have tested the extent of our forces and this will not end so easily: 50 years of plotting will not collapse in one day." Slur warned.

"Don't worry, Boss… The TV didn't catch the chat with Kuroban. They were far more worried with the other guys." Zero whispered.

"Good. I shall return to the base. Kage! Help Zarashe and bring him to the helicopter which will land there." She commanded Kage who had already reverted out of his "Cross Fusion" state.

"Roger!"

10:47 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Don't worry, you guys. I wasn't betting everything on this to begin with and we've still got an ace-in-the-sleeve."

"The Mu Continent, huh."

"Correct, Gray."

"But we don't have to take part, right, Prince?"

"No, Netsuhonoo. You guys can take the day off and rest. I'll need some rest too but at least I proved Slur _can_ be harmed."

Kuroban held a meeting with the "Denpa – Henkan" members: some of them looked tired and beaten while the others were a bit more energetic: Kuroban was standing in front of them and trying to keep their spirits up while grinning.

"Man. I've been such an idiot, really. I forgot that "Ice" equals "Water" in Navi Battles and mistook it for _Pocket Monsters_!" Netsuhonoo groaned and slapped his forehead.

"We aren't perfect." Kuroban replied.

"Huh… Roger, sir."

"At least I beat THE Dark Man, the former "Four Dark Heavenly Kings" member…" Kazebun muttered.

"Burner Man didn't make it easy!" Umisama groaned.

"Who'd make it easy…?" Kisei groaned as he rubbed his ribcage.

"Grah! Even without that "Ryuusei Form" monster the guy was so hard to beat…!" Eisei cursed.

"Come on! Calm down, you guys."

"Roger…"

"You should leave to your quarters and rest."

"Alright, sir."

Eisei stayed behind and sat on a chair while Kuroban picked the iPhone from a holster and dialed a number.

"Dread Baron?"

"I saw it, my lord. What should I do?"

"Nothing. Your duty is over. It's not your fault."

"Dullahan must've been fooling around! Otherwise how did Zero manage to get those bombs there?"

"Maybe he put them there while we were climbing, even."

"Ah! It could be so, sir."

"Really… Bombs with a sensor which, given a range of frequencies from an electric guitar, will blow up the "Energy Cores"… I hate to admit it but sounds like something taken out of their _Mortadelo & Filemón_ comic books to begin with…" Eisei grumbled.

"Take today and tomorrow off and then we'll talk about the future regardless of tomorrow's operation result."

"There's an operation tomorrow as well, sir?"

"There is but it's top-secret."

"Ah! I apologize. I shouldn't have asked."

"Nah! Don't mind it, Dread Baron. Anyway… Tell Styx he's free tonight but suggest to him that he can pick his own path from now on. He's done an admirable job." Kuroban added.

"Roger."

"Is Dullahan in the room?"

"Of course, sir. The "DA" is still blocking the doorway."

"Leave it as it is: I'll have a serious talk with the guy tomorrow. It's about time we made an evaluation of his behavior. Maybe I'll have him do some pencil-pushing as punishment for his behavior."

"I understand. Fools should be punished to keep them on line but without going too far either."

"Obviously…"

A ringing sound rang out from nearby and Kuroban fumed.

"The High Council seems impatient to talk with me, so… Just tell Dullahan that I'm gonna decide his fate. That should make him realize he's not going to get away with it." He sighed.

"Roger."

The communication ended and Kuroban pressed a button on the armchair's right armrest as he sat on it to open up a holographic screen displaying Number One.

"So?" Kuroban directly asked.

"Large successes in Eastern Europe, some spots in South Ameroupe, large parts of Africa, patches of Asia and the Pacific but total defeat in Choina, Japan, Ameroupe and western Europe…"

"Well. At least something worked."

"Regarding…"

"The tower? It worked. That's what matters. It worked."

"R-roger."

"I've got a backup plan which I'll execute tomorrow. That one is running on its own and has had no need of our resources." Kuroban announced with a shrug.

"Oh! That is good, Prince."

"Regarding the "Charon Brotherhood"… I've spoken with them and Styx and Dread Baron will be waiting for further talks with me tomorrow along with Dullahan… Don't mind them. I'll handle them personally because it was _my_ project."

"Understood."

"Over."

"Long live to the Seraphs!"

"… Long live… I'd rather say that you should be packing up and heading for the Bahamas…" Eisei grumbled.

"True. I was never interested in their goals. The tower was just something worth pulling off but my true goal has been the Mu Continent and making the name of the On'Setsu Kingdom be feared."

"Of course. You're a clever man, anyway."

"Wasn't that obvious?"

"My bad. I don't feel like thinking much. I'm going to lie down. I'm totally and absolutely beaten."

"Rest."

"Thanks…"

Eisei came out and Kuroban walked out into the balcony, sighing and looking at the apparently mockingly blue skies.

"… Suppose the Mu Continent plans fails too… What other thing could I use…? Ah! The "power sources"… I've yet to locate them and dig out in the Orb's database the passwords which would energize them again using environmental EM collected by the Orb. Yeah. And then I could recreate that thing Eisei showed me… Hah! They thought they were being original but sometimes reality beats fiction… Heh, heh, heh."

He formed a smug smile and then began to pace around the room while rubbing his hands.

"If I could bring Slur to that end it can't be that hard to do the same with Burai anyway. The guy will regret taunting me and my bloodline: I'll beat him to an inch of his life and he'll be forced to pull out of this. By the High One! I can picture his face of defeat already. But let's not get cocky either or we'll run into trouble… Come at me! Burai!"

_Time to settle the score!_


	21. Chapter 21: Styx's True Colors

**Chapter 21: Styx's True Colors**

20:20 PM (Japan Time), Saturday February thee 22nd…

_Heh, heh, heh. Time for a surprise visit! _

Styx, having dressed with the coat, hat and goggles which were part of his "Charon" disguise, walked down a street and reached an apartment building's entrance: he chuckled and took out a lock-pick from the right coat pocket to pick the lock.

_Too easy!_

He picked it and then got inside of the hall: he checked the mail-boxes and then headed for the stairs.

_Three floors… I can easily climb them and this way my entrance will be more silent!_

He reached the third floor and then drew a small device which he turned on: all lighting went out and his IR goggles began to shine: he headed for the second apartment's door and took out another lock pick tool which he used to get inside: he closed the door in a silent manner and paid attention: not a sound could be heard.

_Even if the guy isn't home I can leave a little reminder of my visit and it should be enough to make him go nervous… Heh, heh, heh!_

KA-CLICK

"Freeze." A voice rang out at the same time he felt a gun's muzzle pressing against his skull from behind.

_YIKES!_

"Hands up. Now."

_Who the hell? I don't believe Ijuuin has a gun!_

"Aha! So this gizmo is what caused the power outage. Let's turn it off and restore power." A new voice exclaimed.

"Do it."

The light came back on and Styx gasped when he spotted that Kage was the one with the gun and Andy was there too: the kitchen door opened and both Enzan and Blues came out.

"What the heck is Kage doing here?"

"Ever heard of "chit-chat"?" Enzan smugly replied.

"Shit."

"So! Atarasei Oscar…" Kage grinned.

"What! How do you know my civilian ID?" He gasped.

"Zero was able to pick it out from a backup server."

"Oh great."

"Let's go have a chat in the living room." Kage invited.

"By the way! We had two companions waiting on a car parked nearby who saw you coming in so we were prepared." Andy grinned too.

"Clever bothersome guys!" He grumbled.

They led him to the living room and had him sit in a chair facing them: Enzan and Blues remained standing behind the sofa while Kage and Andy sat on it: Kage drew his PET.

"Zarashe? Yeah. We got the guy. Like you thought: "Charon" came. Tell that to VP _Noir_ and go back already. This will take a little while: there's chatter to do. Yeah, right. Thanks. Bye." Kage told Zarashe as he pocketed his gun.

"You must feel hot with that hat and those goggles. Why don't you take them off, my dear?" Andy joked.

"GRFJTX! FINE!"

He violently took them off and threw them at the ground to his right: he sighed and looked defeated.

"So! Ijuuin. You did a good job."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Four years ago, March… You gave that idiot a beating."

"Four years ago, March… I beat an idiot…?"

There was a momentary flash as a "DC" emerged nearby and both _Noir_ and Legato walked into the living room.

"We were curious by Zarashe – kun's call… So here's the so-famous Atarasei Oscar, the heir of the "Yellow M", eh?"

"Hmm… Not bad." Legato grinned.

"Oi. You two. This guy says I beat an idiot four years ago by March but I don't remember that."

"What? But didn't the "Darkloids" show up back then?" _Noir_ asked.

"And I don't think you ever beat Bubble Man either." Legato frowned.

"Of course not. I didn't mean Bubble Man."

"Then, who?"

"Use your imagination, Holmes."

"Man. Four years ago… All's blurry! Blues! What do you remember?"

"The battles against the "Darkloids", sir…"

"… Wait a min. This guy… He's using a _cyborg body_ like Eisei Aaron does as well…" _Noir_ suddenly muttered.

"Oh. So you know of them." Atarasei grinned.

"Of course! The old man came up with that to begin with."

"Ah, yes. Now I remember that you were in Nebula and that you were Twilight's pawn… Eisei told me that."

"Well. Yeah. That's true. But I think you're different from Eisei: you're not a human with a digitized mind: you originally are a Net Navi."

"True. I'm a Net Navi."

"And you've been around for these four years?"

"No. I've been around for about six, seven months."

"Ah! That's something else. So you know about what happened four years ago because you researched on it?"

"I did, Uncle Moran." He grinned.

"I'm not in the mood for jokes."

"Who is?"

"No – one."

"Save Uncle Merton?"

"Oh. Come on." _Noir_ grumbled.

"So! Who are you then?" Legato questioned.

"Dark Android."

"Dark Android?" Everyone wondered.

"Yessir."

"Dark… Android… Droid… Roid… Darkloid!" _Noir_ gasped.

"It can't be Cloud Man." Kage protested.

"Maybe it's a lesser one?" Andy suggested.

"No! I'm hi-rank."

"Hi-rank? But… Let's see, here. Cosmo Man, Dark Man and Shade Man work for us… Cloud Man's dead… Those two… Ah! Those two…! It couldn't be…!" _Noir_ realized.

"Hell!" Kage gasped and violently stood up.

"Shit!" Andy cursed.

"Oh fuck!" Enzan uttered.

"Damn!" Blues looked nervous.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Legato groaned.

"Y-you! Stop kidding around!" _Noir_ protested.

"Kidding around! Hah! Was I that fearful in the past? But you're quick to catch up! I've come back from the Beyond! From the Dead Ones' Realm, even! Say it! Say my name! If you have the damned guts!" He stood up and laughed.

"ROCK MAN DS!"

"No! I now am… Styx! 1,000,000 times better than the past me! I've been reborn by the grace of almighty Prince Kuroban and I serve him! And now I've become a human too! Mwah, hah, hah!"

"Then Dullahan has to be…!" _Noir_ gasped.

"LASER MAN?" Everyone uttered.

"Yeah! Big Idiotic Moron Laser Man! Big Stupid Paranoid Imbecile Laser Man! Biggest Fucker on Earth Laser Man!" He mocked.

"Guess they've had a fall-out." Andy muttered.

"Heck! No wonder! Laser Man wanted to save his hide back then but that guy over there forcefully fused with him to try to win!" Blues cursed aloud while looking nervous.

"Yeah! And ever since then the fucker became paranoid about my actions but Dread Baron – sama and the Prince shot the fucker down. Fuck his faceless head!" He laughed.

"So that means you've built up your personality from scratch because Kuroban didn't bother to rebuild it?"

"Of course! And thus I've become better than I used to be. I've exiled myself from the Cyber World forever and now belong to the real world: this is fun! And I've had no trouble accepting orders and acting like an obedient soldier. So you can stop fearing the older me 'cause that guy is dead and buried." He chuckled as he sat down again.

"Yeah. Laser Man wasn't original either." _Noir_ muttered.

"Huh? What?"

"I mean… He creating you to control Forte's power wasn't an original idea when it came to the design."

"The design? MY design?" He frowned.

As a response, he pulled down his hood and revealed his face: before Atarasei could react, though, he took out his PET and projected a life-sized hologram.

"See?"

"By all the…!"

This hologram depicted a Net Navi who looked identical to Rock Man save for the purple color palette, eyes with red irises, and slightly different face shape along with his chest emblem being colored in a navy blue color instead of red: his facial expression displayed lack of interest in anything in particular.

"The color palette… It looks so similar…! But the face is… more human, I'd say! Surely this guy could display more emotions… And the height I'd say he's a bit taller than me… Wait! You're that guy?" Atarasei asked.

"Umbra used to be my name. But now I'm Kuroshiro Oriol. An exile of the Cyber World, too, the first one… The "cyborg bodies" of Eisei and you are based upon mine…"

"Wait a min! You and Kage…! You aren't twins, right? The resemblance is _too perfect_ to be mere coincidence!"

"… If we told you… You'd sneak it to Eisei and the others?" Kuroshiro questioned while leaning forward.

"Do you have honor?" Kage questioned next.

"Of course! I told you! I'm no longer that guy of four years ago: I've become a guy countless times better!" Atarasei defended himself while looking serious.

"Alright."

Kage's face suddenly faded away to give way to a black leather-like mask covering his whole face and neck including the base: it lacked any facial features whatsoever and covered the eyes as well: Atarasei, Enzan and Blues gasped in surprise.

"W-what!"

He unfastened the bandana and then pulled the mask out to reveal Netto's face beneath it: he took out a case and stored a pair of contacts there before sighing and looking up.

"So. We meet again." He merely told him.

"Hi… Hikari Netto…!"

Andy suddenly vanished in a bright flash to give way to Saito, wearing his usual clothes with a brown overcoat over them: he looked calm and unimpressed.

"Hikari Saito… Rock Man…! So you…!"

"Yeah. I have a "cyborg body" too… The 2nd one. Who came earlier of you two? Eisei or you?"

"Eisei."

"Then he's 3rd and you're 4th. The only four in the whole world." He drily added the last words as if wanting to add a tint of drama.

"But… How? Kage and Andy were classmates during the period September 2008 – June 2009…! Unless… I see…! Kuroshiro! You did the role and set the basis along with Legato for them to do that role…!"

"Yeah. Hence why I always hide my face… Else the whole strategy would crumble." He calmly replied.

"But why this disguising and…? Ah! The incident of August, 2008…! That was what gave you motivation in life again, right!"

"Correct."

"And the _SS Scheherazade Symphony_ incident…?"

"Think of it as a test or ritual to prove my resolve and that I was mature enough to go through it and complete it sans complaining or backing up when facing it: Slur – sama wished to prove that I was committed to go all the way and this was the perfect way to."

"I see…!"

"So? Will you keep the secret, Atarasei?" Netto questioned.

"Y-yeah. I'll keep it."

"Why did you come here?" Enzan finally asked.

"I wanted to leave a visiting card…" He admitted.

"And scare me?" Enzan guessed next.

"Well… Yeah…"

"Well. Can't say it was something bad…"

"So! Who is "Dread Baron" then?"

"Well… I dunno. I've never seen him without the mask: I don't know his civilian name or where he came from but he's been a very good commander to me: he didn't favor any of us two and was always strict at the start but lately, seeing how I behaved way better than Dullahan did, he's been more satisfied. Yet… I think he's troubled. He left in rush on Friday morning and also did so this morning." He confessed.

"And you and Dullahan have never fought?" Legato interrogated.

"Apart from discussing with each other…"

"And what's the guy's problem?" Legato asked next.

"He's become jealous and paranoid. Always saying I'm conspiring… Well… This night's meeting could be named so, but… Baron – sama has lost his patience more than once with the guy and finally the Prince had to come and lock him on the room using a "DA" wall…" Atarasei shrugged his shoulders.

"Ironic, ain't it?" Kuroshiro commented.

"Totally." He admitted.

"So! Are they expecting you to be back already?"

"No. Baron – sama doesn't mind at what time I come back. Dullahan will pick at it but since the Prince dropped by two hours ago to have a rather bitter argument with him and saying he's gonna relocate him to pencil-pushing unless he behaves then I think the guy can't dare to make a bold move…"

"Pencil-pushing! Laser Man becoming a pencil-pusher! That's a first, gotta admit it." Enzan was surprised.

"Yeah. And as for me and Baron – sama he's given us _carte blanche_ to pick our path…"

"In short: you can leave the "Seraphs"?" Netto looked slightly intrigued by his words.

"Yeah. But I'm not sure what to do next."

"Why, you could come onboard." Kuroshiro suggested.

"What! Join Golden Star, you mean? For real?" He sprang up.

"Yeah. Why not? Are you a social fellow?"

"Well, I get along with Eisei and I've got hobbies and all…"

"Then it wouldn't be a problem, would it? And that gentleman could come as well… Of course: it's for him to decide but the door's open. Surely Kuroban can't argue against since he's freed you from his service and told you to make your choices."

"Join Golden Star…!" He muttered.

"You've said it: that past you is dead and buried. Why should we reject you? Can you think of an argument?"

"But I've robbed things and…"

"But you were to eventually return them, right? And that wasn't because you wanted to: it was your duty. You obeyed orders."

"T-true, but…"

"Come on! It's better than be drawn into some bad thing or get into trouble with thugs out there." Netto told him.

"We've figured you've had an encounter with two of them given their description of how they were knocked out."

"Oh. The idiots of two days ago… Well… Yeah… Eh… Can I think it during this evening and then contact you with the answer? I'd like to speak with Baron – sama firstly." He requested.

"Alright. Let's have a middle man: Enzan! Will you do the honors?" Netto suggested.

"Sure. Here: my phone number."

Enzan drew a visitor's card and flipped it at Atarasei who pocketed them on his coat's right pocket: he formed a smile.

"Whoa. You really mean it?"

"Sure! I never back up."

"And won't Hades disagree?"

"Not at all. He'd bring up the same arguments."

"And Slur?"

"She would be amused, I daresay. But she's never interfered in our choices: she prefers to patrol the Cyber World and see if she can find something interesting." Kuroshiro assured him.

"You'd have a lot of fun hearing to the Radio Trio too."

"I heard about that. Video Man, Burner Man and Needle Man, right?"

"Yeah! Listen to the latest one."

"… Give some fresh beer, boy~! Roger! There you have~! By all the…! But there's no – one! CLONC! OUCH! Grrr! You can't serve the beer otherwise, you nitwit? Attention! You guys! A new mission!"

"Description if I may?"

"Sure. Mortadelo is tending to the bar when a customer calls for a beer but he doesn't bother to look there: he serves it and sends it sliding down the counter to then realize there's no – one… But it turns out to be a dwarf-height-like customer who had to climb to reach the counter and the glass hit him on the head… Professor Von Iatum rushes in while smoking a cigarette, as always… "This time's affair is a rolling one!"… No sooner he says that that he steps into the glass and begins to roll across the bar's floor… CRASH! DIZING! BOOM! "W-well done… Hips! I was tired too from hearing to that _I just call to say to I love you_… Hips!"

"He broke the disc-player machine?" Atarasei guessed.

"… "Come on! Come on! That was nothing…" … "Do you want some beer to get healthy?"… "If you didn't want it then you should reply "no"! I'd rather think so!"… The Prof stuffed him face-down on a barrel full of raw beer… "Well! I was saying that this time's affair is a rolling one because the "UFO" has landed right here, on the corner building's roof. You only need to walk 20 meters, climb up and get rid of the extraterrestrial. That easy!"… "Walk 20 meters, climb up and… PTAF!"… "That easy!" … "OUT OF ORDER"… "HUH!"…"

"The elevator was out of order and the building was ridiculously high then?" Atarasei began to smile.

"…"What's wrong, man? Why'd you come back? Did you forget something…? YOU NITWIT!"

"One of them wanted the Prof to regret his earlier words?"

"Sure! Mortadelo blinded his right eyes and bent the glasses before going back… To sum it up! They struggled to climb 78 floors and they found a very small "UFO" slightly bigger than a soccer ball covered in some adhesive substance which dragged them to the ground! And it was empty: they tried to face some small green alien with three legs, one mouth, one eye and some kind of antenna with four spheres yet it bit Mortadelo who ran across the roof and fell through a hole on the handrail: Filemón tried to intimidate the thing and it used the tongue to throw him down!"

"What struggling!"

"And at the third attempt they found a wild cat which had eaten the thing… They headed back to the bar… "W-we're here… Huff! T-the in-invader is done for…" … "You've come back rather breathlessly, haven't you? Obviously! That's because you don't do exercise! You should try stair-climbing: it's good for the health!"…!"

"He was gonna regret those words soon enough!"

"Sure! They tied him up and placed him on an escalator which would make the full circle as some kind of slow torture!"

"They could be sadistic when annoyed!"

"Totally!" Saito laughed.

"Alright, then… I'll go back and think it over but I guess I will accept that offer… It'd be a fool's choice to let it skip you…"

"Fair enough. But let's make another sketch."

"Oho. Then I'll listen for a while."

"Ahem, ahem! "Whisky with soda, young man!" …"Right away! Here you have! 150Z and the service." … * drinks up *… Huh… HUH… BLOM! OUA~H! "Why! One would believe you've got a sour heart!" … Note! The customer's on the floor clutching his neck and vomiting fire! … "You savage! Depredator! What did you serve me?"… "Why! Whisky with soda, as you asked! See? High-quality soda ash: the one we use to unblock the drains!" … "Soda! I meant normal soda not soda ash!" … "Well! Man! A small confusion, that's all!"…"

"He calls that "small"? He almost intoxicated the customer!" Atarasei looked half-amused and half-horrified.

"You can't trust Mortadelo and his hearing!"

"… "Hey! Guys! I bring some good news! You should know that we have no more info about other extraterrestrials… The invaders have been eliminated!"…"

"Well! Those are good news, yeah."

"… "Why! I'll try the brand that the Prof smokes… Puff, puff… Hmmm… BRFJX!"…"

"What, it was horrible?"

"… "What are you doing, you fool? Give me back my "Element J-D-96"… I mean… My cigarettes!"… "Huh?"… Well! Let's see~… To celebrate the fact I'll prepare a "House's Special Burning"!"… "Burning? What's that?"… "HOP!"… FLOASH!"

"Whoa! He prepared something which is supposed to catch fire, it caught fire and the Prof was hit by the fire?" Atarasei deduced.

"Some kind of crazy sangria, I believe… "Hey! Who told you to stick the nose out, man? You surely have ended up with a new moustache!"… A~H! Look, Boss, look!"…"

"What… He ended up totally burnt?"

"… "By all the…! Professor Von Iatum's an extraterrestrial too!"…!"

"WHAT?" Enzan, Blues and Atarasei uttered at the same time.

"…"Yeah! And thanks to you guys we've get rid of the others! Hah, hah! We no longer have any rivals to compete in our Earth conquest! These cigarettes contain "Element J-D-96" which is what we breathe on our home planet hence why I was always smoking them! Now I'll slaughter you guys and I'll take over the Earth in the name of my origin spot: the Gas Galaxy! Hah, hah, hah! Puff, puff… * coughs violently *…!"…!"

"The Gas Galaxy? Sounds like a lame name." Enzan muttered.

"Yeah. Totally." Blues grumbled.

"… "What's wrong with the guy?"…" Imagine, Boss…! I exchanged his cigarettes from some cheap "Celtics"…!"… "C-can't breathe…! But you haven't beaten me yet…! I s-still can… reach my planet with the ship I'd concealed here! And from there I'll come back with reinforcements! You'll tremble, you Earthlings!"… Ta-dan!"

"Reinforcements! Crap!" Atarasei gasped.

"… "Devil! He's running away!"… "Don't worry, Boss… The "Celtics" package contains a timed bomb powerful enough to send the Statue of Liberty flying all the way to Sitges… And it's about to go off!"…!"

"Oho! So Mortadelo prepared a trick!" Enzan smiled.

"… * curses at the dwarfing Earth *… "I'll mincemeat you yet! Damn you! I'll be back! Damn you!" … "Heh! The Great Sidereal Commander is so gonna mincemeat your co-axial cells when he sees the state of the flying saucer he lent you." … "And he's got a meteoritic humor ever since "Magna VII" kicked twelve goals to the "Perigee FC" and did away with his bet!"… And that was that the two aliens driving the "Flying Saucer Tug-Away UFO"!"

"The Great Sidereal Commander…! He lost a soccer bet…! 12-0! Aliens sure kick in a lot of goals!" Atarasei laughed.

"Sure they do." Legato grinned.

"If I can hear one of those everyday then I can't imagine anything funnier than that… Say! Could I even design and create a companion Net Navi for me too?"

"If you wish to. It's not mandatory: President Hades doesn't have one for example." Kuroshiro replied.

"Yet…" He suddenly sounded worried.

"Oh. Your background… Simple! You just managed to ditch a gang which was using you to commit petty thefts and all, one of the many hired by Dullahan, but your evidence was too thin for the police to take it seriously hence why you made contact with Enzan here and in exchange for the information we allowed you to come in…" Kuroshiro came up with a good background on the spot.

"Whoa. It sounds good! But maybe there'd be a need to make one or two changes if Baron – sama were to come too?"

"True… I can think them over during tomorrow."

"I know from the Prince that something is gonna happen between 10 and 11 AM but I've got no idea of what it is save that it involves that "Burai" guy who showed up during this morning."

"We dunno either. Guess it's some kind of score-settling." Legato admitted with a shrug of the shoulders.

"Well. This time I'm going back: I'll talk with Baron – sama if he's in the refuge."

"Mind telling us where the refuge is at?" Netto asked.

"Sure. You know Ondo Street, right? Number 44, the garage, behind a green Subaru… I have the remote to open the hidden entrance and it closes 30 seconds after someone comes in… I've got my room, Dullahan has his, Baron – sama's room is there too… Then there's the command room, the safe room and the gym… Hey! The gym! Do you have any onboard _Purgatory_?"

"Sure. Felix is the one who uses it because he wants to keep in shape using the running machines: he says snipers must be agile to retreat from their position and pull back before anyone can react and figure out where the attack came from." Kuroshiro explained.

"Felix the sniper, huh… Is he very dry?"

"A lot. Don't be offended if he doesn't even say "hi" or "morning" to begin with: he's blanking his mind from time to time and only believes in discipline, training and reading about warfare."

"I thought there was a girl sniper named Joanne…"

"Oho! Careful with her: she'll be suspicious of you because she's got some manias… The best you can do is to be polite to her but reply in a vague manner to any questions designed to provoke you." Netto warned.

"Yikes. I'd heard it's better not to pick on girls, so…"

"Yeah. I know. It's hard to shake them off, really."

"Well then… Welcome to the party, our fellow conspirer!"

21:47 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Baron – sama? May I speak with you on the safe room, sir?"

"… Alright."

Atarasei returned to the base and entered the room where Dread Baron had his armchair: he'd been going over some data using his PET but shut the screen down when Atarasei came in and saluted: he stood up and Atarasei followed him into a room with only a pair of chairs on it as furniture: they sat down facing each other.

"Baron – sama… Eh… Truth is… I went to Ijuuin Enzan's home to leave a visiting card but it happened that Kage and Andy were there…"

"Hum. So?" He wasn't surprised.

"… We talked and… Well. They offered me the opportunity to join Golden Star… They also left the door open for Baron – sama too but it's for Baron – sama to decide… Given how the Prince told us we would be free to pick our own road then…"

"Hum. Join Golden Star… Well. Why not… It sounds like a noble thing to do: contributing to stability… Yes. It _is_ a noble thing to do. Fine. Did you give them a definitive reply?"

"No, sir, I wanted to think it during the evening. In the case I feel like doing for real then I would call on Ijuuin and he'd be the middle man to contact Golden Star… They didn't risk giving me a direct line."

"Wise move. You talked with one of the leaders?"

"Yes, sir… _Noir_ came there because Kage reported my entrance upon Ijuuin's house so…"

"And it was them who offered you the chance?"

"Yes, sir. I never brought up the topic but since they didn't mind my entrance and such… It evolved into friendly talk and… Well. I talked about what the Prince had said so one thing led to the other…"

"Alright. I'll think it too but I believe I'll go with you."

"Oh. That would be splendid, sir, because… I'd never find any commander who could be compared with you, sir…"

"Really?"

"Really, sir. You just happen to have an excellent balance of authority, discipline, and mind, sir."

"Well! I'm glad you honestly see me as your ideal commander… They obviously didn't mind about letting the Prince handle Dullahan, right, Styx?" Dread Baron questioned.

"They didn't mind, sir. Why would they favor someone like Dullahan, anyway, sir?" Atarasei confirmed.

"True. Well. Let's go rest and we'll see what happens tomorrow morning with the Prince's own backup plan."

"Roger, sir. Good night, sir."

"Good night."

Atarasei came out into the corridor and opened his room's door with a key he drew from the jeans' right pocket: he came inside and changed into black plain pajamas before climbing into his bed and switching off the lights: he placed both hands behind his head and looked at the bleak concrete ceiling.

_Golden Star… I'd be accepted as a companion, a crew member… Whoa! Life has sure made turns for me. At the start I was but a tool of Laser Man but I should be grateful that I was deleted because it allowed me to be reborn in this manner…! I've said it! And it's true: the past me is dead and buried. The past doesn't matter! The present and future are what matters right now. Heh! And to think I could even get a roommate, a Navi companion, of my own… Ain't that cool?_

"Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep Man will… Beep You!" The computer suddenly exclaimed.

_Heh! Eisei came up with a new joke, eh? Well. Maybe we'll cross paths one day or another… I'm looking forward to it!_

22:08 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Would he say my work has been in vain? Or would he say I've just walked my own road…? Hard to say…"

"… _Aibou_? What's up?"

"Ah. Gray… Nothing, no big deal… Just reflecting…"

"Sorry. I got in the way again… I'll…"

"No. Stay. I need someone to talk to. Another reason I recruited you Gray is because I wanted a confident into which to tell things and argue them with or else I'd go mad. It's a miracle I can keep myself sane and that's thanks to believing into my own cover tale…"

"Eh… Well. What should I say?"

"Is there something worth looking at as of late?"

Kuroban had been standing in the balcony of his room but had left the door ajar so Eisei popped his head in: Kuroban called him to come to his side and sighed while he spoke with him with sometimes glancing into the calm ocean and the moon's reflection on it.

"Well… A week ago they suddenly announced that a second version of _Pocket Monsters Movie 14_, set to show up in theaters this July, will appear as well… Up until now only the version featuring Zekrom, the Black Dragon Pokémon standing for "Ideals" was known but they suddenly let out that there'll be another with Reshiram, the White Dragon Pokémon standing for "Truth"… The titles are _Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! The Movie: Victiny and the Black Hero, Zekrom_ and _Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! The Movie: Victiny and the White Hero, Reshiram_." Eisei explained with half a smile.

"Yeah. I remember you'd told me about that. What was the origin myth for those dragons, though?"

"Well: there were two heroes who existed in the ancient Isshu Region: they used the strength of Kyurem to achieve their goals but then both began to clash "Ideals" and "Truth" against the other…"

"Ah! I remember. And the dragon split into another two forms with each one standing for one concept which ravaged across the land until they were subdued and they themselves transformed into some curious orbs to enter a deep slumber waiting for some worth "hero", right?" Kuroban seemingly recalled.

"Correct. The irony is that Kyurem is both Dragon _and_ Ice so it's not weak to Ice but to Dragon, Fighting, Rock and Steel."

"True."

"Besides, Kyurem has got quite a stock of techniques… Chilling Wind, Dragon's Rage, Seal, Primeval Power, Freezing Beam, Dragon's Breath, Slash, Scary Face… And then come Frozen World, Dragon's Pulse, Seal shows up again, Daredevil, Snowstorm, Imperial Rage and, lastly, Hyper Voice…" Eisei listed as he looked at his PET.

"Imperial Rage? What does that do?" Kuroban sounded rather amused by the name.

"Hold on a min… Here. Introduced in Generation II… It was the signature move of the Miniryu evolutionary line… It inflicts damage during 2-3 turns and it automatically makes the Pokémon be stuck in using that attack yet it will not consume PP each time but only when activated. And in the end the user will end up confused." He read.

"Oho. Confused and blinded by its never-ending rage… How fitting that'd be for that Burai lapdog!" He laughed.

"Sure." Eisei grinned.

"Heh! Tomorrow the world will be told that myths aren't just myths: sometimes they happen to be real."

"And sorry to be defeatist: but if it goes ashtray…?"

"I've foreseen that. We say farewell to these idiots and start our own business: I'd already arranged for some resources to be diverted in the construction of a new base in a hidden spot… We'd move there and then I could come up with something new…"

"Bravo!"

"One must always have several backups at hand."

"Obviously."

PING! PONG! PENG! PANG! PUNG!

"Ops. My email alarm…"

"When will you learn to switch to silent mode?"

"Sorry, sorry… Eh… Huh? Ah!"

"What's wrong?"

"Oda."

"Superintendent Oda of the Net Police's Cyber CID…?"

"He's somehow managed to make this mail reach me: I guess Golden Star re-mailed it. Heh! Not bad… "Uncle Merton tells the fellow with the mop that the broom he owns will lead to a decisive battle. But it happens that the mop fellow is a mannequin and cannot speak yet Uncle Merton, being the short-sighted guy he is, keeps on insisting. By the way: Uncle Merton thinks he's using a broom but in truth he's using a bent and deformed empty steel pipe."…" Eisei laughed.

"I fail to see the logic of it. If there's any to begin with."

"You never know! Uncle Merton has mysterious skills!"

"Yeah. Sure." Kuroban was totally skeptical by now.

"Alright! I'll draw my Colt and tell "Kid" Billy to go buy sweets elsewhere or I'll confiscate them to sell them in the black market!"

Laughing, Eisei came out into the corridor but Kuroban wasn't amused at all to begin with.

"Gray… When will you stop making up stupid mottoes…? Whatever. Tomorrow… Burai! Our long-lasting battle… will come to an end!"

_Very well, then! Deny me! And die trying!_


	22. Chapter 22: Fall of a God

**Chapter 22: Fall of a God**

11:47 PM (Sidney Time), Sunday February the 23rd…

"… Ra Mu! The hour has finally come! Release the fullness of the seal which your own makers created in their foolishness and let the Mu Continent enter the Earth again! I command you!"

"Gru~o~h!"

"It's begun! Eh? _Aibou_?"

"Yeah. Here we are, 115 kilometers north of Sidney… Funny enough I was to Sidney when I had to hunt for the pieces of the "Ultimate Orb" and I found the third one there…"

"Oho. I see."

Kuroban and Gray Thunderbolt had come to the shrine containing Ra Mu and Kuroban formed his "Ultimate Orb" to activate Ra Mu which reacted by making the whole continent shake and move towards a "gateway" in the "sky" which had several moving mechanical edges with golden glyphs carved over its surfaces.

"We'll reappear at an attitude of about 2 kilometers. Besides, the spot has few plane flights and the disturbance is already noticeable: this mole will take about five minutes to get out so there'll be plenty of time for radars to pick it up and warn crafts to avoid this area in a radius of some hundreds of meters… The herds of fools will believe it's some kind of display but they'll soon be taught that it isn't."

"I'm surprised, though… I was expecting Burai to have tried to regain control of Ra Mu during all these days…"

"Maybe he's been foiled because I set up a password system which only reacts to my voice and demands passwords on my tongue which only I can pronounce. It's largely extinct nowadays except in old tablets and objects which have survived to this day." Kuroban shrugged and didn't sound surprised.

"Ah! How clever."

"About two minutes… All seems to be fine."

"Heh, heh, heh. Oh! The fright we'll give them!"

"Sure. Listen: I'm picking up a radio broadcast from Papua New Guinea's Port Morebosy's Jacksons International Airport control tower already and my translation software can translate in live yet they speak English because they are air traffic controllers…"

"…advise to all incoming planes from the direction of Sidney and Australia to avoid a region of anomaly 2,133 meters over sea level at about 125 kilometers north of Sidney… Military craft are going to be dispatched to investigate the phenomenon because it appears to be man-made and causes some weird behavior to the radars…" A man was warning over a radio link.

"About one more minute… Heh, heh, heh!" Gray Thunderbolt rubbed his hands in excitement.

"This time I'm picking up Papua New Guinea Defense Force Air Wing transmission in local idiom and being translated live…"

"… Fox 11 to HQ. The anomaly looks like a two-dimensional gateway which displays a bizarre object "inside" of it… It seems to be some kind of optical illusion yet we can't spot who or what is causing it…" Someone was describing.

"This is HQ to Fox 11 and 12. Do not attack unless proven hostile: this is a reconnaissance mission. Over."

"Message received. Over."

"Can't we tell them something?" Gray Thunderbolt asked.

"Hmmm… Yeah. Wait a sec."

Kuroban interacted with a holographic screen and inputted some commands before clearing his throat.

"Uncle Moriarty would rather advise you not to come closer than 500 meters from the spot, my fellow conspirers."

"Who's there? State your ID!"

"Uncle Moriarty."

"Don't kid around. We can trace this short-burst radio call. If you are joking on us and have hijacked our…"

"Save me the legal speech. A warning is a warning which will come to be reality in about 14.6 seconds."

"State your ID!"

"Professor-Moriarty-He-Who-Haunts-Your-Dreams!"

"Don't screw me!" One of the pilots yelled.

"5.3 seconds!"

"Fox 11! Man! Calm down or HQ is gonna have your neck!"

"Che! I can't stand people trolling me!"

"0.46 seconds."

There was a sudden white blinding light which surrounded them followed by some noise: both pilots yelped over the radio and when the light cleared the whole of the Mu Continent was hovering over the Pacific Ocean at the already specified height: two fighter jets could be seen about 500 meters away from the shrine.

"Fuck! Where'd that come out from?"

"Huh… It's solid, whatever it is, because the radar signal bounces off it to begin with…"

"… Warning. Incoming objects from LOE at a speed of approximately 100 km/h." An auto-voice suddenly warned in Japanese.

"What did that voice say?" Fox 11 wondered.

"Dunno!"

"Hey! I didn't order for anything to come down from LOE!" Kuroban protested.

"Coming down from LOE, several objects, 100 km/h…? Oh shit. I think I know what they are!" Gray Thunderbolt asked.

A shining spot formed high in the sky and then a white rocket could be seen _descending_ towards them but it wasn't a missile because it lacked a warhead: the rocket's main engine stopped and its upper stage was ejected forward: it opened to reveal four "Dimensional Converters" which carried a spear attached to the base plus two short horizontal cylinders seemingly designed to help maintain the balance.

"Dimensional Converters!" Kuroban gasped.

"Golden Star's!" Gray Thunderbolt uttered.

There were four synchronized CRASH sounds as the spires drove into the stone ground of the Mu Continent and landed in four different spots at the same time: they hummed to life and some random-colored hexagons began to pop out of nowhere before giving way to a complete bubble wider and higher than the whole Mu Continent: the colors inside became distorted and mixed at random as well.

"HQ! HQ! This is what happened yesterday! That sphere thing which encompassed the planet!" Fox 11 gasped.

"What the hell is going on?" Fox 12 uttered.

"So. My worthy foe. We meet again."

"Yo."

"Slur!"

"Kage!"

Slur and "CF Kage" appeared inside of the shrine with "CF Kage" standing behind Slur who was smiling and looked amused.

"Burai talked!"

"Yes. But we are just doing him a favor.

"Oi! Gray Thunderbolt - chan! Bite my shiny ass! You moron! Jet Vernier!"

"OI! Nobody mocks me and gets away with it! Wait there, you stinking rascal!"

"The little fry are removed from the way. Today I shall be an observer of this drama." She announced.

"There you are!"

"Shit."

Burai landed from above and aimed his sword at Kuroban who quickly materialized his own weapons: Slur hovered high into the open lattice of columns and looked at the scene.

"What's going over there? Wait! I see two figures jumping out of the building… One's using a jet-pack and the other seems to have popped out of nowhere…!" Fox 11 gasped.

"I hear some chatter but I barely can pick up any words. But I believe they're talking in Japanese, though…"

"Lovely. Now where do we get an interpreter?"

"Maybe I will do." Slur announced.

"Eh… Who goes there?"

"Slur. Golden Star's Slur."

"G-Golden Star! THE Golden Star!" Fox 11 uttered.

"What's that? A club?"

"YOU MORON! HAVE YOU BEEN DEAF TO ALL THE CHATTER WHICH HAS BEEN GOING ON IN THE BASE? DIDN'T YOU SEE YESTERDAY'S WORLWIDE TV BROADCAST?" Fox 11 yelled.

"Oh man! I'm gonna go deaf at this rate."

"A rival of the Seraphs' leader is here to settle it with him while one of our best fighters settles it with the right hand man…"

"Whoa! But what's this huge thing?"

"The Mu Continent."

"Wasn't that a myth?"

"No. Not anymore."

"WHOA!"

"… Hrah!"

"Hah!"

"Dexia Sword! Electrical Spiral!"

"What!"

Both Kuroban and Burai began by clashing swords but Kuroban quickly loaded his sword with two merging spirals of electricity which he then shot at Burai to attack him: Burai was taken off-guard by the sudden attack but quickly recovered and tried to hit Kuroban only to be blocked by the shield.

"Aristeros Shield! Bouncing Pain!"

"What! Ugh!"

The shield glowed with a menacing purplish light before shooting off greenish electricity from the drawing on it at Burai: he grumbled and seemed to realize something.

"This thing can return to me the damage I inflict!"

"Yeah. And that's why I won't make it easy!"

"Who said I was going to make it easy either?"

"Uncle Moriarty!" He taunted.

"What?" He grumbled.

"Gotcha! Sword Dance!"

Eight copies of the sword formed on the air and each pair formed the shape of the letter "X" while producing a sound.

"Hum. Legato. Can you hear me?" Slur called out.

"I can, Slur – sama… And the spy camera allows me to see."

"Is that copied from those games?"

"From _Pocket Monsters_? Yes, ma'am. It's a move to increase the user's Attack value. Kuroban must've ripped it off to serve as "Attack+10" or "Attack+30" Battle Chips." Legato reported.

"I thought as much." She was amused.

"… I'll blow you up yet!"

"Bite me, ugly."

"T-THIS JERK!"

"Anger Man woke up!"

Gray Thunderbolt sounded pissed off yesterday as evidenced by the radio exchanges between him and "CF Kage" who joked to annoy him: Slur looked out into the rooftops of some of the "houses" to see both of them interchanging a barrage of blows and kicks before drawing Long Swords and clashing.

"By the Great Demon King! I'll burn you yet!"

"Uncle Moran says otherwise, Mr. Anderson."

"I'm gonna go MAD!" He cursed.

"Welcome to the club: the Madness Club." "CF Kage" chuckled.

"Fuck you! Rocket Knuckle!"

"Met Guard!"

"CF Kage" formed a Mettool's hard-hat and the Rocket Knuckle bounced off it: he suddenly drew a Tank Cannon and the blast sent Gray Thunderbolt flying until he hit a taller building's wall: he groaned and broke free while drawing both Elec Swords yet "CF Kage" picked them with his naked hands and broke them.

"Shirahadori!"

"Fuck!"

"I won't make it easy!" He warned.

"I won't either!" Gray Thunderbolt growled.

A sudden tremor shook the whole Mu Continent and both stopped to see how the shrine's lattice of columns and structures rising over it collapsed and Ra Mu suddenly emerged from there while both Kuroban and Burai were riding atop its gigantic hands and interchanging attacks in the midst of the air.

"By all the… What's that thing?" Fox 11 uttered.

"Hmmm… They name it Ra Mu. Think of it as a gigantic doomsday program." Slur amusedly replied.

"DOOMSDAY PROGRAM? AIE~H!"

"Fox 12! Snap out of it! Stabilize the craft!"

"Weak-minded…" Slur muttered under her breath.

"I'll bury you yet!" Kuroban cursed.

"I'll defeat you yet!" Burai shouted back.

"What rivalry!" Fox 11 muttered.

"Well. It spans 4,000 years."

"SPANS 4,000 YEARS?" Fox 12 gasped.

"Snap outta it, man!"

"Are you sure this isn't a nightmare? Someone pinch me!" Fox 12 yelled as if being hysterical.

"You're so brat-like…! I don't see how you graduated!"

"Screw your ass, Fox 11!" He scowled.

"What did you say? You're gonna bring trouble from the higher-ups!"

"I couldn't care less!"

"They're hearing us!"

"Who, the Martians?" Fox 12 shot back.

"NO! HQ is!"

"Damn it!"

"And this is military?" Slur wondered.

"So it'd seem, ma'am." Legato grimly replied.

"It'd rather say their future does not fare well." _Noir_ added.

"Whaddya whispering 'bout, ya!" Fox 12 snapped.

"Chut!"

"Do you need to know that to survive in combat?" Slur questioned back in a dull tone of voice.

"Well…" Fox 12 trailed off.

"See?" Fox 11 insisted.

"Oh. Leave me alone." Fox 12 groaned.

"Seal! All Recovery Battle Chips are "Sealed" by now!"

"Another rip-off? Guess Gray's to blame." Legato muttered.

"Let us suppose so."

"Hey! Gray! Did you find a girlfriend yet?" "CF Kage" asked.

"None of your business you disgraced clown!"

"Oi. I'm not a clown, never was, never will be."

"Hah! Now who's the one ripping things off? Ya picked that from "Old" Snake in _MGS4: Guns of the Patriots_!" Gray Thunderbolt laughed.

"Jeez. One thing is mottoes, the other is ripping sprites and game mechanics, see."

"Heavenly Thunderbolt!"

"Lightning Rod!"

"Oh shit!"

All attacks fell into the Lighting Rod and were nullified: Gray Thunderbolt now looked like he could murder, even, and "CF Kage" looked like he was surprised by his glare.

"I told you you've woken up feeling too cocky today." Andy sighed and sounded like he was expecting it to happen.

"G-guess so." He muttered.

"I'M SO GONNA MINCEMEAT YA! Nobody laughs at GEMINI SPARK to begin with!" He roared.

"Gemini Spark? But there's only one of you, right? _Gemini_ usually means twins, ain't that right?" "CF Kage" frowned.

"Huh! Ah! Well! That was my nickname in the orphanage 'cause I was another personality and I loved to zap things!" He seemingly improvised along the way.

"Ah. I see."

"Thunderbolt… Blade!"

"Mugrwa~h!"

"MWA, HAH, HAH, HAH, HA~H… UGRAH! UGRU~H!"

"You fool."

Gray Thunderbolt had taken advantage of the distraction to attack "CF Kage" and weaken him, bringing him to his fours: he began to laugh like a madman but some wires suddenly emerged from yellow spots of his body having short metallic cylinders at their end which immobilized him and then attacked him with some kind of energy: Slur landed in front of him and she now looked angered and annoyed.

"Attacking a foe during a distraction… What a coward."

"Grah… Damn it… I'm not done for… yet!"

"Struggle in vain: these cords shall punish you. Not even Forte could break them: how can you expect to beat him to that? He will continue on slumbering within the extra-plane I built up… No – one shall be the receiver of his clouded mind and pointless rage… Kage. What is your status?" She turned to look at him.

"Huff, huff… On the edge, Slur – sama… About 22 HP left…"

"And that fool has about 37 HP left… But a battle is not settled by mere numerical values. I would rather say… stalemate."

"Don't kid me… stalemate…! I'm gonna… ugh! Beat ya…! Yet…! No matter what… ugh! It takes to…!" Gray Thunderbolt cursed as he tried to struggle against the cords.

"Return to your own vanity."

Slur spread her right hand's fingers open and formed the column of light around Gray Thunderbolt to warp him out of the spot: "CF Kage" groaned and somehow managed to sit on the ground.

"P-please allow me a pair of minutes… And then I'll be on a state to stand on my feet again, Slur – sama…"

"But of course. You have done your best." She shrugged.

"… I'll drown you yet!"

"I'll burn you yet!"

"Those two are still at it? They plan on taking another 4,000 years to settle the score or what?" "CF Kage" sarcastically muttered.

"So it would seem: we shall not get in the way." Slur dully muttered as she looked at the two warriors fighting atop Ra Mu's shoulders.

"… Trouble, Slur – sama!" Legato called out.

"What?"

"Some weird soldier-like programs have materialized all over the world!"

"Sequels of Ra Mu's power…?" She wondered.

"It'd seem as much, Slur – sama! Yet… Why, how odd. Some of them have the Mu crest and others have that drawing Kuroban has on his shield: they've started to fight each other! I guess that standing on Ra Mu alters the control signals and IFF beacons…"

"Intriguing." Slur rubbed her chin.

"I'll squish you yet!"

"I'll smash you yet!"

"Those mottoes are getting repetitive." Andy drily muttered.

"They do not seem to be getting tired." Slur muttered.

"Despite Burai not having access to Recovery Chips too…" Andy sounded surprised about that.

"I'll decapitate you yet!"

"I'll choke you yet!"

"I'll see you standing on the dock yet!"

"I'll see you sinking in the ocean yet!"

"The dock? Ah! The gallows, he means…" Andy realized.

"How vain." Slur was bored by now.

"… The soldiers have wiped each other and nothing has been left behind to begin with… Yet they've sure made a mess of the area." Legato reported with a sigh of relief.

"Man… Will they _ever_ end?" "CF Kage" groaned.

"We cannot know." Slur shrugged.

"CF Kage" managed to stand on his feet and did some stretching and flexions to get into shape while ignoring the aching spots on his body: he rubbed them and groaned in a low tone as he tried to shake the burning sensation off.

"I guess I should join Felix in the gym." He muttered.

"I've always said it'd do you wonders." Andy reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah, Mr. Anderson! No need to remind me! Thank you very much and go shopping." He sarcastically replied.

"Jeez. You and your sarcasm…"

"… A & B have come." Legato suddenly reported.

"Ah! Is that so?" Slur lifted her eyebrows.

"The middle man just contacted me."

"Good. Is B willing as well?"

"Very. President Hades has gone to speak with them: B could help him take care of half of the finances and thus he'd be able to spend some more time with his other duties at the office…" Legato explained in a calm tone of voice.

"Has A said anything about a companion?" Andy asked.

"He's interested. We'll provide him the means."

"Good. The background's ready?" "CF Kage" asked next while pacing around to exercise his legs.

"We'll add B's background and all will be ready: an announcement was made earlier this morning but we said "possible" in B's case because we weren't sure." Legato began to get amused.

"Miss Sniper has objected?"

"On the contrary: she's gotten cocky. And her Navi agrees that it's a bad symptom. We've had to tell Ice Queen off the topic in case she was trying to loophole. Mr. Sniper has shrugged. The Navis don't mind it but the trio is eager to have some fresh audience to give them fresh reviews for their broadcasts. Sorry for so much vagueness but since I can't ensure the safety of this channel…" Legato apologized.

"Security comes first." Slur sentenced.

"Ramuo~h!"

"HUH?"

"Damn you!"

"Hmpf!"

Both looked up to see Ra Mu slowly falling down inside of the shrine while Kuroban stood on a "Wave Road" facing Burai: both were filled with wounds and their swords had broken as well as Kuroban's shield: Ra Mu had a big gaping wound inside of which a mass of white energy could be seen shining.

"You got desperate and triggered that thing's SELF DESTRUCT! Are you MAD?" Kuroban yelled.

"No! I won't allow you lowlifes to use the EM Wave God, Ra Mu, anymore than this! I'll have it vaporize and bring down this continent into the bottom of the ocean! Such is my mission! As long as Ra Mu remains intact someone will try to use it to rule over the world!"

"YOU FREAKING MORON! I wasn't interested in vain ruling! I was just showing to my people that we've finally taken control of our hated enemy!" Kuroban yelled.

"Whatever! My mission stands nevertheless!"

"Che. I'll have you regret this foolishness! What do you think the effects of such a huge mass hitting the ocean at top speed will be? HUH? A gigantic _tsunami_, you moron!"

"No! Because… I've turned the gateway into a two way system: I've placed its other exit 5 meters over the water and such the Continent will have slowed down due to the heavy air in the "plane" and without speed and emerging so close to the water will minimize the impact: the waters are deep here and water pressure will eventually crumble it to dust: if not it'll be a gigantic underwater relic. But just that. You may find Ra Mu's remains there but you can't use them anymore!"

"This isn't over!"

"Who said this was over?"

"One day… I'll erase that damned tribe from the land! The war was a pretext to annex more lands! A ruse by the traitor to gain all riches on the kingdom and crown himself tyrant! You were used by the traitor who had a worm's tongue!" Kuroban hissed.

"So what!" Burai shot back.

"Fuck you. I'm off but I'll be back! My eternal hatred towards the Mu tribe…! I'll release the whole of it into you!"

Kuroban picked his weapons and warped out of the bubble while Burai fumed and looked down at both of them.

"Run." He merely told them.

He disappeared and Slur quickly snapped her right hand's fingers to warp "CF Kage" out of the place: she glanced at the shrine just in time to see Ra Mu hitting the ground and suddenly exploding like a huge energy bomb: the release crippled the whole shrine and the Mu Continent began to quickly fall towards the "gateway" below its apex.

"Farewell, dead city of Mu… Retrieve "DC" along the way." She muttered without emotion.

"Roger. Retrieval started."

Slur warped out and the "bubble" broke down in a quick manner as each "DC" was warped out of the area: Slur reappeared higher in the air and landed in a "Wave Road" to see the Mu Continent vanishing for a moment and then reappearing right over the sea where it formed a plume upon hitting the water: it soon submerged and disappeared under the ocean: she looked up and spotted both planes heading for New Guinea at top speed: she managed to form a smile.

"As one stage ends another begins. This conflict is far from over but I believe it will degenerate into a Cold War style conflict in which all-out direct confrontation will be avoided… Well. No big deal."

_As the past sinks, the present rises and gives way to the future…_


	23. Chapter 23: Towards a new dawn

**Chapter 23: Towards a new Dawn**

09:17 AM (Japan Time), Saturday March the 1st…

"… And here I am in my magnificent post…"

"Oi, Dark Man… That doesn't rhyme, man."

"Don't mind it."

"Jeez."

"Yo!"

"Good morning."

"Ah! Atarasei – dono and Alex – dono… Welcome!"

"Heh! They sure are early risers!"

Atarasei stepped into _Purgatory's_ cafeteria while sporting his usual black wool sweater and jeans plus having put on brown contacts to hide his red irises: he was accompanied by a Net Navi.

"Alex says: go to the chalet."

"Catchy motto!"

Alex was a Net Navi who could be about a meter and seventy tall, three to four inches taller than Atarasei.

His helmet had a golden-colored "Alpha" drawing set on its forehead and it was colored in an azure color with golden bands circling the ear-pads and the edges of the helmet: some azure hair popped out from behind the helmet and stretched until the base of the neck.

His face was shaped to look like that of a guy on his late teens: his eyes' irises were azure and he had an air of "elegancy" to him.

His chest armor had a silver vest built over its surface which appealed as being a layer of extra armor and which ended at the height of the chest emblem: the emblem had a bronze-colored edge and its inner color was platinum: it contained the "alpha" symbol on its very center.

His shoulders were covered in sturdy black armor from which some yellow-colored lines originated to travel down the arms' length: his forearm armor only encompassed the forearm and not the elbow to seemingly allow for further movement: four red circling bands spiraled around its length and ended at the knuckles of his fingers: both arms' color was navy blue yet the forearms and fingers' choice of color palette was sky blue.

His legs' knee protections had been painted white but they had diamond-colored circles varying in diameter set on them: three circles in total spread from the centermost point of the knee protection.

The boots had three pearl-colored bands circling the upper edge, the ankle, and the start of the toe fingers: their general color kept on being navy blue.

"Heh! That's what I call a modern guy!" Burner Man laughed at his own joke.

"What will you desire, gentlemen?" Dark Man asked once they'd picked their seats.

"Hmm… OK, _Danna_… Moran Ice Cream."

"Excuse me?"

"Jeez. That joke is silly." Alex complained.

"Ahem, ahem. Fried egg with bacon: plus water."

"Alright. Alex – dono?"

"Well… I'd rather have the scrambled eggs with bread: I'll drink water too…" Alex decided.

"OK! _Marchando_!" Burner Man laughed.

"… "Right away"…" Alex automatically translated.

"So! Oscar!"

"Yikes."

"What's the plot?"

"W-what plot, Joanne – san?"

"Jeez. Joanne – chan. You'll get into trouble again."

"Stay outta this, Lily. This is _my_ business."

"Lily – san, can nothing be done…? We've been at this ever since three days ago…!"

Tozukana had suddenly popped into the cafeteria along with Lily who was rolling her eyes and looked defeated: Atarasei gulped while Alex looked nervous at seeing Lily's defeated face.

"I'd rather say there's someone stubborn who exercises a lot and has been to the deck early this morning, Watson."

"By Moran! How'd you figure that out, Holmes?"

Agoras and Victor joined them while joking: Joanne whipped around to direct them a hostile glare but Agoras didn't move an inch: Tozukana began to get annoyed but then someone cleared their throat and the atmosphere seemed to freeze all of a sudden: the "secretary" had come into the room from the other end.

"Tozukana. Messing around _again_?" She questioned.

"Crap." She muttered.

"I thought we had settled this long ago!" She grumbled and was obviously annoyed.

"Well… But those guys…" Joanne trailed off.

"What about them?" The woman questioned.

"They're sneaky!" She signaled them in a rude manner.

"What?"

"They're suspicious!"

"Of _what_?" The "secretary" questioned.

"Of plotting with the… Competency!"

"With Ikada Bertha, you mean? Not again."

"Yeah! Again _and_ again! That… competency… will stop at nothing to discredit me!"

"I settled that with them time ago too."

"Excuse me: what's the matter?"

"Oh! Daikani Andros – sama…! Good morning, sir!"

"Ah. Oscar. Good morning. What's the matter?"

"Well, Joanne – san…"

"Ah. Yes, yes. I'd heard about that from President Hades."

"Dread Baron", or, rather, Daikani Andros, stepped in while being dressed in his civilian clothes: Atarasei quickly stood up and saluted him: Daikani greeted him back and then looked around yet Atarasei's remark merely caused him to lift his eyebrows.

"Ah. Daikani – dono… Welcome." The "secretary" welcomed.

"Let's see: what might the matter be?"

"Cha employee is plotting with the… Competency!"

"Competency? Miss Ikada, you mean? Oh please. President Hades had an interview with Miss Ikada two days ago about that. He advised against trying any jokes." Daikani sighed.

"Oh yeah?" She sounded skeptical.

"Yes. Do you think I make things up?"

"Eh… No, no, _Danna_…" She gulped.

"See?" Lily fumed.

"Oh. Leave me alone."

"Blurting out without thinking leads to this."

"Shut up."

"I won't. Why can't you think things twice before making a move or saying something? It's no wonder than then they tell you that your arguments are poor and baseless." Lily told her.

"Nya~h! I'm about to wreck something!"

"… What's this… scandal…?"

"Yeah. Someone better explain. We can hear it on the gym."

Qong and Tom rushed in and Qong questioned in his usual slow and dull manner while Tom went straight to the point.

"You." Qong didn't seem surprised to see that Tozukana was the cause of the bickering.

"Not again." Tom groaned.

"Go snipe ugly politicians and get outta MY way! Felix Leiter!" Tozukana blurted at Felix while looking about to explode.

"Qong. Felix Qong." He corrected with a hint of annoyance.

"You don't wanna be the CIA guy?"

"No."

"Tell that to a James Bond fan. Which he isn't." Tom fumed.

"Come with me, Tozukana. We shall talk with President Hades and maybe you need to go talk with your aunt."

"Not with Aunt Enda!" She gasped.

"I could see that coming _miles_ away." Lily muttered.

"Oi. What's going on?" Zarashe asked as he came from the other entrance to the cafeteria.

"Burner Man told us there was a discussion going on."

"Yeah. Miss Sniper: as usual."

"We should've seen it coming." Beta X grumbled.

"Obviously."

"Come! This is an ORDER!"

"Damn it."

Tozukana had to follow the "secretary" out of the room and Lily went along with a shrug of the shoulders: Felix fumed and muttered something in a foreign idiom before turning on his heels and heading back to the gym along with Tom: Agoras and Victor sat in the chairs around another table, Daikani picked a seat on Atarasei's table and Dark Man brought their breakfasts.

"Gentlemen. Announce your desires."

"I'll have enough with two slices of toasted bread and some cheese slices: bring me water as well." Daikani requested.

"An apple, please." Agoras requested.

"Bread & butter: plus orange juice." Victor smiled.

"_Marchando_!" Burner Man exclaimed.

"So! How did you guess that Joanne – san had been…?" Victor asked.

"Easy! Her hair was still wet, her boots had salt grains on it and she looked like she's been exercising hence why she didn't bring the sniper rifle along… I've told you many times, Watson, that it's a mere matter of using common logic in observations…"

"Oh! I see."

"Yo. Morning."

"Good morning."

Kage and Andy came in too and sat on Atarasei's table: they both shook hands with Daikani.

"Good morning, Daikani – san."

"Good morning."

"We heard there'd been some incident."

"Joanne – san." Atarasei summed up.

"Huff. That was just what we expected." Andy sighed.

"Didn't we all?" Alex replied.

"By the way, what's become of Burai?" Atarasei asked.

"Oh, Burai? He's training in the Reverse Internet. He seems to have found an interesting opponent in Yamato Man."

"Tee, heh, heh. Plotting a plot, my fellow conspirers?"

"Come on… Bertha – chan. Stop making up lame mottoes."

Ikada and Sandra also joined the group: Ikada was giggling while Sandra was far from amused.

"Come on, Sandra. Be dynamic."

"I'd like to. But I gotta keep an eye on you."

"Oh? Why?"

"Because you tend to get into trouble with Joanne – san…"

"Oh, Joanne… Never mind!" She shrugged.

"I'd rather say: be careful of your acts."

"Yeah. We don't want more in-fighting."

"Yikes! VP _Noir_… Good morning…"

"Commander Legato: you have just said what I intended to say. We don't need more in-fighting."

_Noir_ and Legato joined them: _Noir_ sounded serious while Legato had a dry look to his face.

"Alright. Let's calm down: we're all on the edge today, it'd seem."

"Truly."

"We should be glad March came: spring is about to begin!"

Suzuki and Akemi were the last ones to join them: Dark Man whistled something and Needle Man ran in.

"Shah, shah, shah! The reinforcements came!"

"Please give me a hand with the orders: where's Shade Man – dono at, anyway? He's the extra cook…"

"I apologize. My spam filters were not working properly and I had to sort out the spam mail manually…" Shade Man apologized as he stepped into the kitchen through the staff door.

"Don't worry, _Danna_. Let's please our guests to the bloody and burning banquet of spring's star, shall we?"Burner Man grinned.

"Oho. Oho. Good one. Good one." He laughed.

"… Che! Hmpf! Nya~h! Huh! I'll remember this yet!"

"Just call your aunt."

Tozukana ran past the cafeteria while looking pretty annoyed but had time to direct a hostile glare at Ikada: Lily followed her while being fed up and made sure she didn't stop: President Hades came in next and looked like he wasn't glad at all.

"That young lady… Always asking for trouble!" He muttered.

"Unfortunately…" Daikani sighed.

"Are you glad with your position, sir?" Hades asked him.

"I am."

"That is good. If you desire to talk about something important then do tell me… Are your sons fine, sir?"

"Oh! They're exultant. I now have no need for that secrecy and those scarce visits…"

"Excellent, my good sir, excellent…"

"Any news on the Seraphs?"

"The police raided them. The "High Council" has been arrested. But Prince Kuroban and his men had already disappeared during the night: the Elite Quarters' staff didn't hear anything so they surely used "DCs" for a quick and silent escape to somewhere else: they must've foreseen a collapse of the organization. And since they weren't totally dependent of it they will most likely become a loose organization." Hades explained.

"Hum. I see."

"Mademoiselle Slur had a look at your refuge, sir… She found that Dullahan wasn't there either so he was taken along with them while still using the robot body."

"Good luck handling the guy…" Atarasei muttered.

"True. They won't have it easy but I believe Prince Kuroban will apply enough "Pressure" to make him behave…" Daikani shrugged.

"Speaking of which… Does Eisei's email address still work?" Kage suddenly asked.

"Nope. He changed it."

"Ah. I thought as much: the guy was crafty." Kage shrugged and seemed to have been expecting it.

"I still think that his reason for yelling "Gemini Spark" is another than that rushed and improvised tale… Maybe he originally was supposed to be named like that and the "Gemini" would be reference to the armor on both arms?" Andy wondered.

"Could be." Alex shrugged.

"Oh! True. Miquel – kun, Oscar - kun… Once we're done with then come to my room: we've got a pending a _Great Melee Smash Brothers X_ game, you know?" _Noir_ reminded them.

"True! My Captain Falcon will punch you yet!" Kage laughed.

"My Koppa will squish you yet!" Atarasei laughed next.

"My Kirby will swallow you yet!"

"Alright! My fellow conspirers! My Meta Knight will stab you yet! How's that?" Legato challenged.

"My Lucario will smash you yet!" Andy shot back.

"My Fox will blaster you yet!" Alex added.

"Heh, heh, heh. It's good to see such high morale!" President Hades sounded satisfied.

"Truly."

"Shah, shah, shah! Video Man! Prepare some sketches!"

"Listen to this! The "TIA" employees run out yelling about some "saucer" and M&F try to protect the Superintendent yet he ends up being beaten over and over again by their incompetence and lack of coordination: an agent comes in holding a saucer and grumbling about everyone running off: it turns he was trying to collect some money for a fellow agent who was going to get married but the agents feared having to part with their money so they fled! And thus there was no need to try to "protect" the Superintendent!" Video Man laughed.

"Man! That's a good one: I didn't see it coming." Legato laughed.

"True." Daikani chuckled.

"The fake Professor came back and tried to beat M&F but failed over and over again without those two noticing! And when they found out where the real one was at they mistook him for the fake and detonated a bomb there to leave him burnt! And thus the "Invaders!" album comes to a close and soon enough… "Monsters!" will come up!"

"Hum! Monsters, by Moran!" Agoras laughed.

"Will they be _clichéd_?"

"By Moran! My word! My word and his word! Mwah, hah, hah!"

09:13 AM (Philippines Time)…

"… Heh! This place ain't bad."

"It's hard to spot!"

"And we have a free beach too!"

"I can't wait for the summer to test it out!"

"Heh, heh, heh! The Prince is a genius."

The five "Denpa – Henkan" users were gathered in a small living room somewhere with a balcony on the north wall which was currently closed but allowed sights of the western coast of some island somewhere: the room was very similar to that on Seraph HQ with red leather armchairs, bookcases and five desks: four of them had gathered around one of the tables and were playing two games of _Duel Monsters_ while Eisei was playing with a PS3 console the game _Biohazard 5_.

"… Heh, heh, heh! Run, Chris! Try to hide from Overlord Wesker, the cool man!" Eisei laughed.

"… "Sacred Barrier: Mirror Force"… Now that you've "Announced" an "Attack" I can trigger it to "Destroy" your "Face-Up Attack Position Monsters"! Too bad, Umisama!" Kazebun announced.

"Crap!"

"Be glad you don't lose LP like in the _anime_!"

"Guess I should!"

"… Gotcha, Netsuhonoo. "Magic Jammer" can "Negate" your "Raise Dead Magic Card" and send it to the "Graveyard" while I pay the "Cost" which is tossing 1 Card from my "Hand"!" Kisei grinned.

"Man. You're good at this." Netsuhonoo sighed.

"Maybe I believe in my "Deck", like Mutou Yuugi?" Kisei formed a broad grin.

"Guess so." He muttered.

"Yo."

"Ah! Prince!"

"No, no! Keep at it. I just wanted to see if there's anything missing which I should take care of."

Kuroban came in while smiling and stopped them from sitting up: he began to look around and then headed for Eisei.

"_Biohazard 5_, eh? The Chris & Sheva VS Jill & Wesker Battle… Are you progressing?" He asked Eisei.

"Well! Pretty much, yeah."

"… There's no point in hiding! Ah! There you are you are! Found you! You're merely delaying the inevitable."

"Wesker can make your hair strands stand in the air." Eisei laughed at his own joke.

"Maybe. Did you see Dullahan?"

"Dullahan? I thought he was making sure the basement elevator worked properly." Eisei frowned.

"Ah. Now I remember, yeah. Has the guy bothered you?"

"No. It'd seem that being in the same base as cha has set on the fear on his hide." Eisei shrugged.

"Good, good. Well then… We'll be keeping a low profile for a pair of months or so and then we'll star something new and fresh… You should teach me about that card game one day, though. It looks like it is something pretty entertaining." He smiled.

"You can start with this." Eisei replied as he picked an instruction booklet from a side-table and handed it to him.

"Hum! Alright. I'll be reading this. Well then… Good luck. Ah! And remember something: our new gang name is… _Shunoros_!"

"Long live Shunoros!"

11:44 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Alright! We're set. How did you manage to come without raising Alex's suspicions, though, Saito – niisan?"

"Oh, that… Alex and Legato have begun a co-op _Halo Reach_ campaign play-through from the very start so…"

"I see! Good, good."

"This setup is fun, eh, Oscar – kun?"

"Sure, Kuroshiro. I wouldn't have thought Hikair Jr. liked these kinds of games or so did Hikari Sr. too."

Atarasei and Kuroshiro were standing naked in his room next to a wooden structure which seemed to be a wooden horse with sliding halves and a metallic upper edge.

Netto and Saito had been seated there and immobilized there: their legs were bent together and kept on that manner by two sets of ropes below the hips and above the knees: their feet were aiming towards the ground as well.

Their chests had two parallel pair of ropes circling around them above and below their nipples with a connecting one spanning vertically across the gap between both pairs: another vertical rope behind them connected with the ones immobilizing their forearms: their arms had been locked in horizontal positions with each fist facing opposite of the other.

Two red leather collars had been fastened around their necks and there was a rope connecting them.

A thin string had been tied at the head of their cocks and it was spooled into a small spool which tugged both cocks forward.

Lastly a pair of black wool blindfolds covered their eyes as well stopping them from seeing.

Two black leather vibrators with dots over their surfaces had been affixed to the frame and aiming NE and NW to be inserted into their asses as well.

"Good. I'll have Jr." Atarasei grinned.

"I'll have Sr." Kuroshiro giggled.

"Turn this babe on and let's rock." Netto challenged.

"We want to rock already." Saito added.

"Alright!" Kuroshiro smiled.

"Here we go."

They both picked a pair of remotes and turned on the vibrators: the twins began to moan in a tone which sounded like they wanted to feel it: both guys then climbed into the structure and stuffed their hardened cocks into their asses while starting to play with their nipples and gripping their balls as they made contact with the cold metal.

"The metal turns you on, eh, Hikari Jr.?" Atarasei grinned.

"Sure, man." He admitted.

"So! Saito. You wanted to feel a cock there, eh?"

"Of course."

Both guys began to pump into the twins' asses and they all seemed to be enjoying the thrill ride: they laughed and eventually released: Atarasei and Kuroshiro then sucked their cocks to enjoy their flavor but they stuffed anal beads up their asses to fill the gap: they then began to kiss them and finally broke away while sharing a string of saliva.

"Say, Oscar – kun… Let's leave them like this to see how many times they release and let's play with each other…" Kuroshiro suggested.

"Hey! Good idea."

"Oho. I'll win ya at this, Saito – niisan!" Netto challenged.

"Bring it on, Netto!" Saito shot back.

"Wow. This bed feels good."

"Heh, heh! Thanks for the compliment."

"Alright. Stuff your cock into my ass first: I've played with vibrators before so I have a rough idea of what it means to get stuffed. I don't care if you're my first: I'm not into drama."

"You want it so badly…"

Both climbed into the bed and Kuroshiro sat on it: he picked Atarasei's body and slowly lowered it into his expecting cock: Atarasei began to ride on it while rubbing his cock: Kuroshiro giggled and picked one smooth black leather vibrator with a control switch and battery compartment which he turned on to tease Atarasei's nipples: his moans seemed to excite Netto and Saito who suddenly released: Atarasei released and Kuroshiro then sat on his fours: Atarasei grinned and sat on his knees to start pumping there.

"They call this "doggy style", right?" Kuroshiro asked.

"Sure they do."

"Man. Oscar stuffing Oriol with his big cock… It turns me on!" Netto suddenly laughed.

"Me too!" Saito laughed as well.

"How does this tool feel like, Kuroshiro? Your cock must be feeling great by now, isn't it?" Atarasei laughed as he rubbed the head Kuroshiro's cock with the vibrator.

"Oh… Oh… O~h!" He moaned.

"Man! Vibrator on the cock's head… It turns me on! Here I go!" Netto suddenly exclaimed.

"Whoa! I went off too!"

"Listen to our six-nine then!" Kuroshiro giggled.

"It'll turn you on again _and_ again!" Atarasei laughed.

"Man! I love this thrill ride! It's superb!" Netto laughed.

"More! We want more of it!" Saito exclaimed.

11:57 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Well! Laika went back to Sharo already along with Torolov so he's not gonna bother us for a while with his paranoia. Hello there, Obihiro. What's up?"

"I was going over some analysis with Zero of commercial encryption protocols' strength…"

"That's good. We may need them, Enzan – sama."

"Sure."

"Has someone seen my _cappuccino_ cup? Punk! Can't you remember where I left it at?"

"Did ya check the machine?"

"I did."

"Sorry. I picked it on mistake."

"Oh! I see. Don't worry, Hikari – hakase… We all make a mistake from time to time."

"Hello there! Uncle Merton's come!"

"Oh crap!"

Enzan had been wandering across the Net Police's Cyber CID HQ and began to chat with Obihiro: Meijin came in looking for his coffee but it turned out Yuuichirou had picked it: Superintendent Oda came in next, laughing, and everyone gasped.

"Uncle Merton tells you to tremble! Editorial "Shudder" will soon publish "Monsters' History" and they will come alive! My word! And Uncle Moran's word too!"

"How lovely!" Everyone grumbled.

"That reminds me of that fella who hid in the garbage bin which…"

"Scram!"

Everyone ran off leaving Oda alone: he blinked but then formed a grin and rubbed his hands as he climbed upstairs and headed into the PA system control room: there was an employee there reading a magazine and looking bored.

"Yo. My fellow conspirer."

"S-Superintendent Oda, sir…! I… eh… I was…!"

"Don't mind it. Go join the others."

"Roger, sir."

"Heh, heh, heh. Alright… Ladies and gentlemen! Uncle Merton with the collaboration of Uncle Moran warns you that Uncle Moriarty will knock at our door with a battering ram!" He turned on the speakers.

A chorus of groans, curses, moans, grumbles, sighs and other sounds rang out displaying annoyance, defeat and exasperation and so on.

"Next! I'm going to invent the IPBM! The Inter Planetary Ballistic Missile, see!"

Another chorus of sounds rang out through the building: Oda wasn't defeated just like that, though, and he chuckled.

"The IPIM! Inter Planetary Ion Missile!"

"Someone put the brakes on the Boss!" Someone yelled.

"I can't stand it anymore!" Another person cursed.

"Someone kill the switch!"

"Run for your sanity!"

"Sanity Man and Sanity Cousin will drop by today, then."

"Stop the damned speakers already!"

"We're all gonna go mad!"

"Of course! Madness Club goes Mad with Madness! Welcome to the Madness Club, my fellow conspirers!"

18:57 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Well! Can't say the morning was boring."

"At all."

"I scored five rounds."

"I did five too."

"Too bad."

"Yeah. Next time I'll overcome the score."

"Oi. You two."

"Yikes! You're… Solo! Miquel told me about you…!"

"W-what do you want?"

"Where did Kuroban go off to?"

"Dunno."

"He fled during the evening three days ago."

"Hmpf… Fled, huh… The guy could be anywhere, huh?"

"Yeah. We're afraid so."

"Sorry we can't be useful."

Netto and Saito were returning home while carrying sports bags each when Solo popped out of a side alley and both gasped: he looked calm and unimpressed with the news.

"How can I contact Golden Star with info?"

"Well. We'd heard you train in the Reverse Internet…"

"True."

"Then drop a message in front of a "node". You did that once, didn't you, Solo?"

"Well. Yeah. That's true too. I'd forgotten."

"But sooner or later Kuroban will stick his neck out again and cause some trouble or another so… I'd say we should have patience and wait for the guy to make a move." Netto suggested.

"That's how we figured out about the guy to begin with." Saito added with a shrug.

"Sounds logical… Fine. I've got training ahead of me anyway. I'll see you around, I guess. Consider me a _fan_ of you guys… Later."

He formed a smug smile and walked away through the alley: both twins blinked in surprise.

"Whoa. Solo's a fan of us despite being 10 years older than us. That's something." Netto whistled in surprise.

"Sure thing…"

"Well. We _did_ save the world so…"

"Oh true. I'd forgotten that."

"Funny that we'd forger that." Netto grinned.

"Ironies of life, maybe?"

"Oh! You guys! Did you know? I protected a fair lady from being attacked by…!"

"YOU LIAR!"

"YIKES!"

"Oh how lovely."

"Yeah. Truly."

Dekao had suddenly come into the spot but Meiru, Yaito and Hikawa rushed after him to scold him and stop him from coming up with another lie: both twins sighed.

"But…!"

"NO "BUTS"! FLEE!"

Dekao ran for his life and the other three fumed.

"That guy…!" Meiru cursed.

"That fatty guy…!" Yaito groaned.

"That person…!" Hikawa grumbled.

"Yeah. We know, we know." Netto rolled his eyes.

"He'll be regretting spending his time like that when the April exams come up in three weeks' time, anyway." Saito shrugged.

"True, true!" The other three grinned.

"Jeez. Don't make those faces: you look evil that way."

"Guts! Guts Man…!"

"Lies again!" Roll, Glyde and Ice Man snapped.

"GATTSU~!"

"Now, now. Let's not get hysterical either." Netto advised.

"Yeah. A new dawn is about to come up from now on anyway."

"Heh! If there's adventure along with it then it'll be worth it!"

"Count me in too!" Yaito giggled.

"Adventure! Sounds good!" Hikawa looked eager.

"Guess we're the "Adventures Club"!" Netto joked.

"Come anytime, our foes! We'll be ready for you!"

_Heh… Feel cocky while you can… When we come back we'll have a new tool capable of turning the tides! Gray Thunderbolt won't give up so easily, you guys… Heh, heh, heh!_ Eisei chuckled as he spied on them.

"Towards a new dawn we go!" Netto rallied.

"HORRAY!" Everyone exclaimed and laughed.

**THE END**


End file.
